Intervention
by Polka Dot Jewel
Summary: There's a lot people don't know about Chad. His life isn't "perfect", like they all claim it to be. He's got his problems, whether he admits it or not.
1. Life

_Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

**Warning: This does contain very mature themes and will probably include very strong language. This may be rated T now, but I would not be surprised if I have to bump it up to an M rating.**

There were times when Chad felt utterly great. During those times, he felt like the greatest teenager in the world. He was an actor in Hollywood, he was extremely popular, he had a few true friends and many acquaintances, he had a few girls (nothing too permanent, of course), he had a place all to himself...

And then there were days where he felt like utter shit. Those days would drag on, he wasn't with his friends, everyone seemed to piss him off... Those weren't good days at all. He always knew how to "fix" those days though:

He would go to his friends.

Most people, when they see their friends, they go to the mall, they go to some cafe and talk for long periods of times, they see a movie, they go to each other's houses... Yeah, Chad would do that with some people, but often, to "fix" these bad days, either he would go to his friends house, or they would come to his, and they would get high.

Of course, the media never knew about these little get-togethers. The media didn't even know about these friends of his. True, the media portrayed him as a "bad boy", but not because of drugs. He sometimes got into a few scuffs, he knows how to charm a girl... Those kind of things made people call Chad a "bad boy", and those qualities are what got millions of girls fawning over him.

If only they knew.

He had a lot of internal struggles. Yes, he had a place to himself, but only because he forced his parents to live elsewhere. They didn't get into too many fights; if they did fight, they only bickered about the things that were said about Chad in papers, on the internet, or what was said on TV. He was a natural charmer, and often fooled his parents into thinking that the media was just overexaggerating things that he did when he was out. In the end, his parents were always out of the house, and they never saw each other anyway, so they moved outside the city, closer to their jobs, and Chad stayed in an apartment closer to the studios.

Chad jumped slightly at the vibration of his cell phone. He opened his phone and grinned. The text message read:

**Come on over, man. We got some new stuff ;)**

That message was from Max. He grabbed his keys and his jacket and walked out of the house. Tonight was going to be a great night.

**A/N: I know, I know, I should be working on more of SWAC of Random Stories, but this idea just came into my head as I was watching something on TV. And, I know this is a bit short, but think of it as a teaser, or an introductory chapter. I hope you all enjoy this! **


	2. Consequences

_Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

**A/N: Thank you all for the reviews, faves, alerts, etc! It means a lot to me :) Also, I should've mentioned this in the last chapter, but Chad is going to be a bit OOC / AU in this story, due to the circumstances. I'm not sure how I feel about this... consider this a bit more of an introduction to what's going to happen in future chapters. **

Getting used to waking up after partying all night was still something Chad was getting used to. These "parties" were different from the other types of parties Chad attended. When in Hollywood, when at Hollywood's parties, he would stand around, chat with some girls, have a few drinks... whatever. Unless he was with some girl, he would only stay at the party for a few hours. When he was his friends, they would drink, use drugs... just hang around one their places for hours and hours on.

This morning, Chad felt a little more worse than usual. Nothing a few Advil can't take care of, he thought to himself as he rolled out of bed and walked into his kitchen. He grabbed a water bottle and two Advil before swallowing them. He rested against the counter, suddenly feeling dizzy. That new stuff was crazy...

He looked over at the clock and checked the time. It was 8:38AM. He was to be at the studio by 9:30AM. He walked into his bathroom and took a shower. As he took his shower, he noticed a few needle marks in his arms. He frowned at the sight and sighed. He was grateful for wearing long-sleeved shirts and jackets on the show. He finished his shower and changed before walking out of the apartment.

It only took him about 20 minutes to drive to Condor Studios. He easily found a parking spot before walking inside. He walked through Studio 2 first, hoping to catch a glimpse of his favorite Random. Surely enough, as he passed through the hallway, he found Sonny turned around, leaning against the wall, looking on her phone. "Munroe," he casually said.

She quickly jumped and turned around, her eyes wide. "Oh. Cooper."

"Why so jumpy?" he asked, standing across from her, also leaning against the wall.

"Well, I have been the only one in this hallway for a few minutes now, and to hear somebody coming out of nowhere definitely scared me," Sonny murmured, looking back at her phone.

"Mm." Chad nodded.

"Oh, I've got a confession for you, Chad," Sonny said, turning to him, smirking.

Chad raised an eyebrow, also smirking. "Oh, do tell."

Sonny walked over to him and leaned close. "Well..."

"Well...?"

"I watched MacKenzie Falls last night."

Chad mock gasped. "You didn't!"

Sonny innocently nodded. "I did..."

"And how was it?"

Sonny shrugged. "Dramatic."

"Tell me something I don't know, sunshine."

"Interesting."

"That's all? One-worded responses?"

"Well, you did do a good job..."

Chad had to think about the episode from last night. He was high while watching it, but he didn't quite remember what it was about... oh. Yeah. MacKenzie got hooked on drugs after trying them at one of Devon's parties. "Oh, really?"

Sonny nodded. "Mmhmm. It was almost like you've done drugs before..."

Chad smiled slightly. Was he really that good? He shook those thoughts out of his head. Of course he was that good! He IS Chad Dylan Cooper, after all. He is one of the greatest teen actors of all time. He suddenly laughed. "Whatever, Sonny. Chad Dylan Cooper is too good for drugs."

Sonny rolled her eyes. "I figured. Wouldn't want some drugs ruining CDC's already perfect life..."

"You think my life's perfect, Sonny?" Chad suddenly snapped.

Sonny stared at him, frowning slightly. "Well..."

"'Well' what? You think my life is perfect, huh? Well, you're wrong, Sonny," Chad continued to snap, glaring at her.

Sonny looked down and mumbled, "I'll talk to you later, Chad," before walking off.

Chad stared at the retreating girl, now feeling terribly guilty. He didn't mean to snap at her, not at all. Something inside of him just ticked at her statement. He got out his phone and texted his friend, Trey.

You busy around 5?

---

Chad, Max, Trey, and Jason were sitting on the couches in Trey's living room, laughing at a commercial on the TV. Trey turned the channel, and a "Girl's Gone Wild" commercial popped up. All the guys cheered at the commercial.

"Those girls are BANGIN'!" Trey exclaimed.

"Man, I'd like to bang one of them right now," Jason said. The other three guys nodded in agreement.

"I'd like to bang that Portlyn girl you work with," Max told Chad.

Chad rolled his eyes. "Whatever, man, she's not all THAT special."

Max scoffed at him. "'Not all that special'? I know you're on something, but DAMN!"

Chad was about to make a remark when his phone started vibrating. He took his phone out of his pocket and saw that Sonny was calling. He grinned slightly and got up, walking into Trey's kitchen. "Can I get a heeyyy?" he asked as he picked up the phone.

"Chad."

"Sonny..." he whined. "You gotta say heeeyyyy..."

"Whatever, Chad. Look, about earlier..."

"Aww, is Sonny apologizing to me?"

There was a pause on her end. "Excuse me?"

"For thinking you know me. For calling my life 'perfect'."

"I... I should not have to apologize to you, Chad. You should be apologizing to ME."

"Why, Sonny? Why?"

"Because you snapped at me for no reason! At all!"

"Fine!"

She groaned. "Chad, we're not 'fine'!"

"Good!"

She let out a tiny scream. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Are you on crack or something?!"

"Maybe I am," he retorted.

"Whatever. We're not 'good' either."

"Well, fuck you then!"

She scoffed. "Excuse me?" She loudly sighed. "Look, Chad..."

"Don't 'look Chad' me-"

"SHUT UP!" she screeched. He stopped, blinking a couple of times. She continued, "Chad..." She paused for a moment. "I don't know what's going on with you today, and now I'm sorry that I called you." And with that, she hung up the phone.

He stared at the phone and shrugged, shutting it and putting it back in his pocket. "Whatever."

---

The worst part of Chad's crazy nights was that he often forgot what happened the night before.

He continued his usual morning routine - got up, got some food, showered, changed, and headed to work. Once he got to work, he headed back on into Studio 2. Once he woke up, he felt bad about what had happened between him and Sonny the previous morning, and he was going to apologize to her. He couldn't find her in any of the hallways or sets, so he went to her dressing room and knocked on the door.

"Sonny?"

He could hear a few rustling footsteps heading around the room. A few seconds later, he heard the door unlock and saw the door open just a crack.

"What?" No "Good Morning", no "Chad", no "Cooper", just that question. Her voice was full of anger, venom, confusion, and even a hint of sadness. He did not like this one bit at all.

"I just wanted to apologize-"

"Oh, wow, how freakin' nice of you," she spat, opening the door a bit more. Her glare was intense as she stared at him, her arms crossed.

He furrowed his eyebrows. "I just wanted to apologize for my actions yesterday morning," he slowly said.

Her facial expression softened for a second, but was soon replaced with total confusion. "What?"

He stared at her, a completely confused look on his face. "What?"

"Nothing about, 'Oh, I'm sorry for totally spazzing at you on the phone last night'-"

"I... we talked on the phone?"

Her eyebrows furrowed together, a still confused look on her face. "Yes... we had a rather interesting phone conversation..."

His mind was racing. He knew he was at Trey's last night, but a lot of their night was fuzzy in his mind. What could he have possibly said to Sonny?! "I... I really don't remember..." he stuttered quietly.

She stared at him, completely dumbfounded. "What's going on, Chad?" she quietly asked.

He just stared at her, his face completely emotionless. For the first time in a long time, he didn't know what to say. He always had a comeback, an excuse, a reason, something to say, but this time, he was at a loss for words. He couldn't quite explain it himself.

They continued to stand there for a moment, staring at each other. Finally, Sonny sighed and walked back into her dressing room.

Unfortunately, this was the first weird and confusing thing to happen to him that day.

A few of his cast mates acted a bit strange around him when he first arrived on set. He didn't notice it too much at first, for he was too wrapped up in his and Sonny's conversation. He could not figure out what went on the night before during their phone conversation, and he wished so much that he could. As the morning went on, he noticed their stares and whispers more. When lunch came around, they seemed to get over it, though. (Or they pretended really well.) They got their spectacular, delicious lunches and sat at their table. They sat there, talking amongst each other.

Chad briefly looked over at the So Random table. As soon as he looked over, he caught all them staring at him. They didn't look jealous, they didn't look mad, they didn't look happy... they looked curious, confused, like they were wondering something...

And, Sonny... how he could stare into her eyes all day long... He wasn't sure how he felt about the funny brunette. He knew he liked her, and that he desired more of a friendship with her, but something inside made him want more... how much, he wasn't sure. Was it lust, or something along the lines of love?

"Ew, what are they staring at?"

Portlyn's statement caused him to quickly jump out of his thoughts. He hadn't realized how much he had been staring in their direction. "I have no idea," he said, looking back at his castmates.

"They probably heard about your latest Tween Weekly article..." Portlyn said, shrugging.

"And what was that about? I haven't been able to read it yet," Chad quickly said. Normally, he read ALL the articles published about him, whether they were true or not, but he hadn't been so interested in them lately.

Portlyn went through her purse and handed Chad the latest issue. In the corner was Chad's picture and the words: "Chad's crazy night out - details on p.64!"

Chad quickly turned to page 64. His eyes widened. Apparently, him and his three friends were caught walking around town at 1AM. The article talked about how loud they were, how drunk and / or high they sounded, the things they said and did... He internally groaned. Nobody was supposed to know about these things, and he knew his friends wouldn't spill. Why did they go outside?!

He then expected a phone call from his parents tonight. He needed to come up with an excuse fast.


	3. Family

**Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted.**

Chad couldn't ignore phone calls from his parents.

Well, he could, but he didn't like to, unless he absolutely had to. When he was with the guys, he wouldn't pick up the phone. He did not want his parents knowing about anything he did with these guys. He wasn't ashamed of them. Oh, no. They were his best friends. They knew him better than anyone else. But, he mostly did not want his parents finding out about the things they did together.

He wasn't surprised when his parents called him in the early evening. He had been preparing himself for the call ever since he read the article in Tween Weekly. E! had also touched on the subject, but admitted they have yet to speak to either him or his agent. He was surprised his agent hadn't called him, but then again, usually he called his agent about this stuff.

"Hello?" he asked, sounding as casual as possible. Truth be told, he was slightly nervous about this phone call... he didn't know quite why he was so nervous, though. He wasn't a drug addict. He wasn't an alcoholic. He just had a bit of each every now and then. There was nothing to be worried about.

"Chad Dylan Cooper, what is that that I am hearing?" his Mom immediately asked. "You are doing DRUGS?!"

"Mom..." Chad started.

"No, son, we want the truth."

Chad paused for a moment. "Okay, Mom... I had a couple of drinks last night, but other than that, I was just hanging with a friends. We were just telling each other jokes and goofing around. We weren't doing anything else."

He could tell his Mom was thinking by the silence that was heard for the next few moments. Finally, she sighed and said, "Okay. I'm disappointed you even had anything to drink, but at lesat it was only a few, and I didn't see you driving."

Chad internally sighed. Yet again, he fooled his Mom into thinking the complete opposite of the truth. He felt bad for lying to her, but he knew it was for the better. "Sorry, Mom. I'll try my best not to do that again until I'm the proper age."

He could hear his Mom smiling as she said, "Teenagers will be teenagers. Well, honey, I have to go, but I love you and I'll talk to you later."

Chad smiled softly and said, "Love you, too. Bye, Mom."

---

When Chad was little, he witnessed his Dad go through a couple of relapses.

He didn't know much about his Dad's problems when he was little. They all happened before he was 10 years old, before he went to Hollywood. His Dad is a construction worker, and has been for over 20 years. He was often out at the construction site, and would work for many hours each day, so he hardly saw his Dad. Usually he saw him early in the morning or late at night, it just depended on his Dad's schedule.

The first sign of any problems with his Dad happened when he was four years old. He didn't have pre-school that day, so he was at home with his Mom. He was in the living room watching TV when she got a call. She sounded worried and upset. She left him with her sister, his Aunt Carrie, and was gone for about two days before returning.

"Daddy's at a hospital" was her excuse for his two-month absense. "He's really sick, and they're going to make him better."

He didn't learn until he was 13 or so that his Dad was at a rehabilitation center for abusing over-the-counter drugs.

Of course Chad missed his Dad dearly, and was ecstatic upon hearing the news of his arrival. His Dad seemed like a happier person. There was definitely something different about him. Things seemed to get better for the Cooper family.

The second time this happened was when Chad was eight.

His Dad seemed fine for a few years. They were back to being a normal, happy family. Things slowly started to change, though. His Dad became more angrier, more violent. His Dad never hit him or his Mom, but he would often yell at her, and sometimes his Dad would yell at him. His Dad would always apologize, though, and he always believed his Dad's apologies.

One day, on a Saturday, they were all supposed to be going to the beach. Chad was excited to go to the beach; he loved the beach, and to this day, he still does. But, his Dad never came home the night before, and his Mom was doing her best to cover her worry in front of her son. Around noon, she received a phone call, which caused her to almost breakdown right there.

They didn't go to the beach that day.

Chad ended up going to the hospital with his Mom that time. He remained in the hallway while his Mom, his Dad, and a few doctors talked in the room. It seemed like forever before his Mom came back out. She bent down in front of Chad and told him, "Chaddy... Remember that hospital your Daddy went to a few years ago? Well, he has to go back. He's sick again, and he has to get better again."

His Dad was gone for three months.

He had abused over-the-counter drugs again, and this time, he added alcohol into the mix.

Chad forgot about these instances until more rumors started to appear. More of his wild nights started to appear in the papers, more of his conversations were recorded and printed onto the press, and more pictures started to appear. The worst were the videos - he didn't know what to think about those. He kept asking himself the same question, over and over again:

_What happened?_

**A/N: Thank you all! I thank you all for the faves and alerts, but I especially want to thank those who have left reviews. You all are the best!! And I hope to get more reviews, too. I hope you all continue to like this! **_  
_


	4. Denial

_Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

Chad wasn't worried about becoming an addict.

The tabloids were worried about an upcoming addiction. He didn't focus on those words, though; all he could focus on was how, in each of those articles, they somehow mentioned him as an actor that was "good", "great", "talented", whatever - those words were always positive.

He received a few more calls from his parents, too. He made up a new, a better, excuse for them as well: Hollywood was going through a bit of a slow news period, and since he liked to go out a lot, they just focused all their attention on him, and would make up these outrageous stories and lies about him. They continued to believe his stories.

Sonny didn't talk to him for a few days after their morning confrontation. He avoided her side of the studios that day, but he ended up terribly missing her. He missed her presence, her laughter, the sparkle in her eyes... he really missed her.

On the second day, he couldn't take it anymore.

He immediately called Jason, who lived outside of LA, and asked if he could come over. So, him and Jason sat in his apartment that night smoking marijuana. That was his main thing, the one thing that really brought Chad, Max, Trey, and Jason together. The first time he tried it was at a party when he was sixteen, about two years ago.

That's where he met Jason.

Chad had stepped outside to get away from the party. It became a bit overwhelming for him, with everyone hounding him. He looked over and saw this mysterious guy just sitting there, smoking like nothing was wrong.

"Want some?" the guy, Jason, had asked upon seeing Chad's curious stares.

Chad's first mistake was even acceping the joint.

He wasn't an addict. True, he was quite experimental with what he tried (it seemed like the guys were constantly bringing him different things), but marijuana was his "one true love", his first, the one he knew he could go to in case things went a little too wrong. Mary Jane always made him feel better. For a while, anyway.

A good night's sleep usually helped, too, but Mary Jane made him feel better when he wasn't sleepy.

He used to never touch over-the-counter drugs, after what had happened with his Dad. Max had convinced him it was okay to use them. "If they were bad, then they wouldn't be over-the-counter, we'd need a prescription for them," Max told Chad one day. That reasoning helped Chad make another decision: It was okay to use sleeping pills. With the lifestyle he lived, of course he would run into sleepless nights. One night became far too sleepless, so he went to the store and bought the best and biggest box of sleeping pills he could find. Ever since then, he would use them during sleepness nights.

Chad couldn't become an addict.

When he was little, he wanted to become a family man. He wanted one wife, the perfect wife, and at least one kid. Two or three would be better, but as long as he had a child, he would be okay. In his mind, when he was little, he knew being bad would result in not having a family. That's what he learned from TV and movies, and from his Aunt.

Nowadays, he wasn't sure what he wanted. Eventually, he wanted to settle down. He didn't know when, though. Not anytime soon. He hasn't been in a committed relationship for well over five years, and even then, it was just simple puppy love. If he's really never been in a committed relationship, how can he be sure he could be in one at this point in his life? He was an actor, always working. At day, he worked, and at night, he partied. That was his life. Could he find someone to match that? Sure. Some random girl would love to be attached to his arm at all the parties. But, he never stayed in one place at a time at those kind of things - sometimes, if he brought a date to those, they would both wander off and never even see each other again.

But, there was Sonny... Would he change himself for her? Would he party less, hang with his friends less, just to be with her? He wasn't sure. He didn't want to be in a relationship with her because of that very reason. He "fought" with her, he "teased" her, he did all of that so she wouldn't want him. Sure, they were acquaintances, almost friends, and they did fake date well... He always felt bad for pretending to make fun of her. He didn't like making fun of her... most of the time. Sometimes, he liked seeing her get upset - it was cute.

Stupid cute.

Three days after their confrontation, Sonny walked over to him after filming was over for the day. "Chad?"

"Huh?" he quickly asked, also quickly turning around. He hadn't heard anyone coming up to him out in the parking lot. Once he realized it was Sonny, he strangely grew nervous. "Hey."

"Hi." She smiled softly and said, "So, uhh... haven't really talked to you in a few days..."

"You just couldn't resist Chad Dylan Cooper, huh?" He smirked, a mischiveious sparkle in his eyes.

He could tell Sonny knew he was messing around with her by the giggle that she let out. "Oh, yeah," she sarcastically said. "Totally."

He laughed, which caused Sonny to laugh a bit more. These were some of the things Chad continued to enjoy - the tiny moments he shared with certain people that felt so carefree, so simple. He loved moments like these.

She stopped laughing, but a small smile still remained on her face. She reached out and touched his arm. "It was nice seeing you Chad," she said before walking off, her hand slowly slipping away from his arm.

"Wait, where are you going?" he called out.

She turned around, laughing slightly. "Home. It's the end of the day, Chad, and I've got a hot date with my TV tonight."

He laughed. "You have fun with that, Munroe."

She giggled as she got into her car. He watched her drive off, away from Condor Studios from the day. He stood in that spot for a few moments before heading over to his car. He decided to have a night in that night, too.

That was until it got interrupted by Max, Trey, and Jason.

---

The tabloids seemed to love Chad lately. Too bad he still wasn't paying attention to the negativity of the situation.

It had been a blissful week. True, the tabloids still mentioned him, but not as much - finally, there were other celebrities to talk about. He was able to hang out with his friends without the whole world completely knowing again, his parents weren't really on his case, MacKenzie Falls' ratings were better and higher than ever... oh, and Sonny was talking to him again.

Of course, he was naturally worried for the girl when he saw her outside on the pavement, sitting down with her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them. "Hey," he quietly said, squatting down next to her.

"Hey," she muttered, her head still on her knees, her eyes facing forward.

"What's up?"

She didn't say anything fro a moment before saying. "I'm worried about a friend."

"Which friend?" he asked, truly intrigued.

She shook her head. "You don't know them. They're from Wisonsin."

He nodded. "Tell me about them."

She pursed her lips, thinking for a moment. She looked over at him from the corner of her eyes. "I'm worried about them... They've been acting different lately... Apparently, they're dealing with things they shouldn't be dealing with, and... it's changed them." She sighed, looking down before saying, "We got into a bit of a scuff a couple of weeks ago. Even though we're okay now, things are still...weird...different...strange... I really don't like it..."

_Why did that sound so...familiar?_

Chad reached over and started rubbing her back. He could see the tears welling up in her eyes, and that really touched him. He didn't know who she was talking about, but she must care about them a lot if this whole situation is making her cry. "Why don't you talk to them?"

She shrugged, smiling softly. "They're a bit stubborn."

"Well, maybe you and a group of people can talk to them? That way you don't have to be directly yelled at."

She paused for a moment. "I don't really know their friends. I mean, I know a couple, but for the rest of their friends... I've heard little about them. I've seen pictures, of course, but other than that... I think that's what's making him do all this stuff..."

"Well, maybe you two should directly - wait, him?"

Sonny didn't mean to say "him" - she hadn't caught herself slipping that word out. "Uh, yeah, I-I'm talking about a guy..." she quietly said.

"It is... you know, a friend, boyfriend, ex-boyfriend..." His statement came out more like a regular statement than a question. Yeah, he was a bit jealous of whoever she was talking about.

She let out a sad laugh. "No, it's not a boyfriend... or an ex. I'd be a bit more upset if he were my boyfriend... We've been friends for over a year now..."

"Would you... want to go out with him?" He didn't mean to sound pushy, but he was genuinely curious about this guy.

She shrugged, looking over at him. "I'm not sure anymore."

That made Chad think about his and Sonny's friendship. Even though they were talking again, he still hadn't seen her much in the past few weeks... They probably talked to each other for a minute each day, but sometimes, even if they saw each other, they didn't talk. Obviously, whoever Sonny was talking about what somewhat close to her, and after all that thought, he realized he wanted to be a better friend to Sonny. If they couldn't go out, the least he could do was attempt to be better friends with her.

"Hey, let's go out for a while," he said, standing up.

She quickly looked up at him. "Wait, what?"

"Oh, n-not like that," he stammered. "As friends. Maybe we can get some ice cream and I can take you home. I overheard you were having car troubles..."

She nodded and stood up. "That sounds great, Chad."

Life can't always be great, though.

**A/N: Aah, thank you all for the reviews!!! I am so happy you all are enjoying this story. It means so much to me!!! Now, I want to set a goal: Let's make it to 15 reviews! I would like 20, but 15 is more reasonable. We can do it!**


	5. Party

_Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

Chad didn't like the feeling of feeling guilty.

It was the final day of filming for both So Random! and MacKenzie Falls. Neither of the casts were doing anything that day; So Random!'s was the next day, and MacKenzie Falls' was going to be a few days later. So Random! had an early taping, for they were going to have an hour-long special, and MacKenzie Falls' shooting ended up wrapping around the same time as theirs.

Chad could hear some cheering as he traveled through Condor Studios. He could see Sonny at the end of the hallway, and jogged over to her. "Sonny!"

Sonny turned around and grinned. "What's up, Cooper?"

He shrugged. "Just glad to be done with another amazing season of MacKenzie Falls."

"Let me guess, even more drama than ever?"

He smirked. "How did you guess?"

She innocently shrugged, a smile tugging at her lips. "Just a lucky guess."

"So what are you doing tonight?"

She thought for a moment, her lips pursing together. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" he asked, smiling.

She rolled her eyes. "Nothing yet, I guess. Why?"

"Well, there's this party tonight, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me."

She looked at him, a thoughtful look on her face. "Okay."

"Really?" he quickly asked. "I mean... great. I'll pick you up at seven."

---

Sonny looked at herself in the mirror, smoothing down her outfit. She assumed she was going to one of Chad's Hollywood-esque parties, so she tried to dress casually. She wore a pair of skinny jeans, a pair of black boots, a grey t-shirt, and a red-plaid jacket. She brushed out her hair, which was extremely curly earlier and was now wavy.

She jumped at hearing a knock on her apartment door. She walked on over and opened the door. "Hey," she said, smiling at Chad.

He smiled at her. "You look nice, Sonny."

She blushed slightly. "Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself, either."

She thought he looked really cute, almost hot, but she would never say that to him. He was wearing a his white button-up shirt (like one he wore on MacKenzie Falls) with the sleeves rolled up to his elbow and a pair of jeans with his always-clean white sneakers.

He shrugged. "I always do."

She smirked and rolled her eyes, grabbing her purse and shutting the door as she left her apartment. "Sure, Cooper. Let's get to this party already!" She followed him outside to his car, where he opened the door for her and shut it once she was inside.

He got into the driver's seat and quickly drove off. That's one of the few things Sonny didn't like about Chad - he always sped! It only took him about ten minutes to get to the party, and Sonny was extremely glad to get out of the car by then. She got out of the car and followed Chad into the party.

Sonny wasn't too big on partying, and looked around upon entering the building. Of course, there were plenty of people bumping, grining, and dancing all over each other, and there were lots of people hanging around, either chatting with or trying to chat with other people. She felt him put his hand on the small of her back before saying to her, "C'mon, let's go see if we know anyone here."

She knew none of the So Random! cast members would be at this party, for they were doing other things that night. As she walked around with Chad, she saw a few people from other shows she recognized, including a few she grew to be acquaintances with.

As Sonny talked to a couple of girls, Chad looked around the room. His eyes suddenly widened: Trey was there. He stared at his friend for a moment, who suddenly caught Chad's eye and started waving at the famous celebrity.

"Chad?"

Chad turned around. "Huh?"

The girls behind Sonny giggled, causing Sonny to nervously smile. "Um... I'm going to walk around with them-" She pointed at the girls behind her. "-for a few minutes, so..."

"Y-yeah, I think I saw someone I recognized..." Chad muttered, quickly turning around and walking over to Trey. He sped up to Trey, who seemed to be caught up in talking to someone else at that moment. "Trey!" he hissed.

Trey turned to him. "Hey man! What's crack-a-lackin'?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Man, I got an invite from a friend of mine..." Trey said, nudging Chad.

Chad thought for a moment before sighing. He did invite Trey the other day to the party. He wouldn't be so upset that Trey was there if Sonny wasn't there. She didn't know about his friends, and frankly, she didn't want her meeting them.

"Man, I got you some new stuff," Trey muttered to Chad, stepping very close to him.

"I can't," Chad hissed, gritting his teeth.

"I saw that girl you were with," Trey quietly said. "Look at her, anyway."

Chad turned around. He saw Sonny laughing with a bunch of girls. He turned to Trey and said, "So?"

"So, she'll be preoccupied with them for a while. We can do a little bit of stuff, and bam, it'll be after midnight and you'll both be fine."

Chad paused for a moment. True, Sonny seemed to be having a blast with her friends, but he wanted to be with her tonight. But, at the same time, spending a bit of time away from her wouldn't hurt anyone... right? He shrugged and muttered, "Alright. Let's make it quick."

"Perfect," Trey said, grinning.

---

Chad is someone who really hasn't made a lot of mistakes in his life... or, at least, that's what he tells himself.

Tonight was the first Chad tried cocaine. He wasn't sure what to do with it at first, as it just sat there in front of him on the table, but he just imitated those around him and soon, he was joining them in their little state of euphoria. After an hour or so of staying in that room, Trey and Chad left, grins on their faces.

"Dude, that was AMAZING," Chad said, high-fiving Trey.

Trey laughed. "Sure, man. Well, I gotta jet, but I'll see you later."

Chad smirked. "You betcha." He looked around and grinned. He saw his brunette crush a few feet in front of him, looking around. Although she apparently changed into a completely different outfit and was a bit shorter, even though she was still wearing heels, he walked up to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Hey."

The brunette laughed and turned her head. She almost looked surprised to see him. "Oh!"

"You look shocked," Chad teased, smirking.

She laughed. "Well, it's not everyday that some superstar approaches you like this."

"I'm a superstar, huh?"

"Of course you are."

They looked into each other's eyes and leaned towards each other before their lips met. The kiss was small, but full of passion. The girl turned towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck, continuing to kiss. He moaned, pushing her back into a wall, his arms wrapped around her waist. Her hands ran through his hair before onto his shoulders. She unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt and felt his upper torso.

"Someone's a little fiesty," he murmured, tracing her jaw with his kisses. She gasped, now placing her hands under his shirt and rubbing his chest. He started unbuttoning her dress. One the buttons were unbuttoned, her pulled the dress open, revealing her firm breasts being held up by a lacy bra. He immediately began kissing her once more, his hands roaming her chest. She wrapped her leg around his upper leg, bringing their waists closer together.

---

Sonny walked around the party, trying to find Chad. She and her friends were about to leave the party and go elsewhere, and she wanted to tell Chad before he made a scene looking for her. She headed towards the back of the room and stood there for a minute. "Hey there," someone said behind her.

She gasped and turned around. She did not recognize the person and asked, "Who are you?"

"A friend of a friend, I guess. You look a little lonely tonight..."

"Believe me, I'm not," she spat, stepping back slightly.

"Looking for Chad?"

She started at him. "You know Chad?"

"Oh yeah."

She stared at him before shaking her head. "Yes, I'm looking for Chad... I need to tell him something..."

"Chad's friend" laughed, pointing behind her. "I don't think you should talk to him right now."

She slowly turned around and gasped at the sight, her eyes widening. Her hands flew to her mouth, a shocked expression on her face.

It was Chad, and he was making out with some other girl.

Tears immediately sprung to her eyes. She wasn't sure why she was getting so emotional. True, she liked Chad, and over the past few months, they had gotten more closer than ever. She let a couple of tears spill down her cheeks before running off.

She was very grateful for the summer break. In fact, she was so grateful that she was going to extend her vacation to Wisonsin. Chad would have to find that out for himself eventually. She wasn't going to tell him.

**A/N: Yay! We reached 15 reviews! And we ALMOST got to 20! But that's okay, because I am happy you all are liking this story! I hope this chapter wasn't too graphic for some of you. But, I did warn in the first chapter that this story was going to involve mature themes. I might not be able to update tomorrow, but expect the next chapter either tomorrow night or sometime Friday. **


	6. Confrontation

_Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

Neither Sonny nor Chad paid attention to the tabloids anymore. They each had their own reason for avoiding them, though.

Sonny stayed in Wisconsin the whole summer. Her excuse was that Hollywood was getting a little too crazy for her, and that she needed the summer break away from all that "madness". Lucy and her Mom were very happy to hear the news, and didn't question Sonny any further. She had an enjoyable summer, though, and forgot all about the incident at the party... well, that was after Chad stopped trying to call her. That was, until she was on her way to the airport. She grew sadder thinking about the turn of events, and honestly, she wasn't quite ready to go back to Condor Studios. After the party, she decided to ignore all tabloids. She didn't want to see pictures or videos of her crying, she didn't need to read the details, she truly wanted to forget all about it.

Chad never left Hollywood, unless he was promoting something. He never really took any vacations anymore, and he had lived in southern California his whole life. He remembered parts of what happened at the party. He remembered having sex with some girl (who probably was not Sonny, he figured); he got yelled at by his parents for that one. That was all over the tabloids, and that's what made Chad stop reading them. His summer was mostly spent with Trey, Max, and Jason. Sonny wouldn't pick up his calls for about a week, so he stopped trying to call her. Obviously she was ignoring him for some reason. He really hoped she wasn't the one he had sex with, because he knew their friendship would've definitely been over if they did have sex.

He sighed as he tried remembering those events. It was a little past 3AM, and he still wasn't asleep. He never kept any drugs at his apartment, and his friends were all busy, so he couldn't see them. He reached over and opened his bedside table's drawer and grabbed a few sleeping pills. He grabbed his bottle of water and drank the pills down. He placed the bottle back on the table and placed his head back on the pillow. He continued to lay there for a long time before he grabbed a few more sleeping pills and took those. Finally, sleep overtook him.

---

Chad groaned as his cell phone rang. It felt like he hadn't slept that well. He reached over and grabbed his phone. "Hello?" he muttered, sounding tired and exhausted.

"Chad! Where are you?" It was the director from MacKenzie Falls.

"Home... what time is it?" he murmured.

"It's almost 3PM..."

"WHAT?!" Chad exclaimed, sitting up in bed.

"Thankfully, we were able to do some other shoots today. We're done filming for the day. Please, show up on time tomorrow so we can finish the episode."

"Okay," Chad muttered before hanging up. He stared down at his bed in disbelief. How could he have not woken up? He usually wakes up around six or seven AM on a regular basis, even if he had been out all night. He opened his phone and checked the date. It was September 1, the day before So Random! was supposed to be back at set...

He was going to pay Sonny a visit at her apartment.

After showering and getting dressed, he grabbed his keys, phone, and wallet before heading out to his car. True, he had only been to Sonny's apartment once, but somehow, he remembered exactly how to get there. It was around 4PM when he finally arrived to her apartment, and sure enough, he saw her car in the parking lot. He parked close to her apartment and quickly hopped out. He practically jogged up the stairs and to the front of her apartment. He quickly knocked on the door.

A few seconds later, Sonny opened the door. Her eyes widened slightly before she narrowed them. "Chad," she spat out.

He just stared at her, his mouth slightly open. "Sonny?" he softly said.

She continued to stare at him, becoming more and more aggrivated. "What?"

"What..." He couldn't quite form the words. What was going on here? He was so confused. Why was Sonny so mad at him?

"Chad, if you're just going to stand here and not talk to me, again, you might as well just walk away while I'm still not angry."

"Why are you mad?" he finally asked.

She scoffed, raising her eyebrows. "Seriously?"

"Sonny, I don't-"

"I used to like you, Chad," she blurted out, an angry expression on her face. "And not just as a friend. I used to like you more than that. I thought maybe that someday we could go out." She shrugged before letting out a low laugh. "Aah, silly me, thinking I could go out with you... I don't know what happened, Chad. For a while, you were just arrogant Chad, but you actually had a soft side. Then you were just angry, always yelling at people, and you became so mysterious. I thought maybe it was just a phase that would last a week or two. Nope. It lasted months.

"But, we finally started to get closer again..." She let out another laugh. "I wasn't surprised to find out you fucked some girl at that party."

"Sonny, it's not-"

"It's not what, Chad?" she asked angrily. "First off, you leave me for who-knows how long, and then I try to find you, and this guy comes up... ugh, he claimed to be a friend of yours, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was, but anyway... I go looking for you, this guy comes up and points you out, and I see you all touchy-feely with this girl, and you two are grinding hips, and your shirts are basically off..." She sighed, looking down.

Chad was speechless. He stared at her for a moment before quietly asking, "So... we didn't have sex?"

She stared back up at him, anger filling her eyes. "NO WE DIDN'T HAVE SEX!" she screamed.

Chad flinched. He did not expect her to have an outburst like that.

"Is that what you wanted?!" she snapped.

He quickly shook his head. "No, Sonny!"

"Oh, was I not good enough for you?" she exclaimed. "Suddenly I wasn't fuckable, so you decided to go look for some other girl to have a one-night stand with?!"

"I would never take advantage of you like that, Sonny."

"Oh, so you thought it would be okay to do something like that with her? Actually, she did seem pretty fine with it..."

"It's not like that!" he exclaimed.

"THEN WHAT HAPPENED?!" she screamed, tears brimming the edges of her eyes. She sniffed, not wanting to cry in front of him.

He just stared at her. He never, not in a million years, imagined to have a conversation like this with Sonny. It was killing him, and he knew this was all his fault. "I..." Again, he was at a loss of words. "I really don't know, Sonny."

She bit her bottom lip, a few tears escaping down her cheeks. "Fine." She shrugged, wiping her tears away, avoiding Chad's gaze. "If and when you ever figure it out, maybe we can talk. For now... just stay away from me, Chad."

She softly shut the door, leaving Chad standing out there. He was confused, angry, upset, bewildered... He knew nothing between him and Sonny would be the same. He reached out and placed a hand against her door. "Sonny..." he murmured sadly. He sighed before walking off and back to his car.

He never heard Sonny's sobs or her constant cries for Chad.

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews!!! This chapter was a bit hard to write... thankfully, I have an idea for the next chapter, so maybe that'll be longer. If you have any ideas, suggestions, etc., please don't hesitate to tell me! I love to hear ideas :) **


	7. Realization

_Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

Nothing was ever too awkward at Condor Studios, especially between Studios 2 and 3. With the exception of Sonny and Chad, each cast normally just ignored each other. But, now that Sonny and Chad weren't speaking to each other, everyone could feel the incredious tension that they had built up.

Sonny was in a bit down after her "conversation" with Chad. She kept a smile on her face and participated in working on the script and such, but when she was in in her dressing room by herself or at her apartment, she just would sit or lay down. Thankfully, she didn't see much of Chad since then... in fact, she rarely saw him at all. Maybe in the hallways or a few times at lunch, but not that much since their argument two weeks ago.

Chad was almost in a state of depression. He was in complete hate for himself after the argument. He made a promise (to himself, mostly) to show up at work and to look okay. When he got there, he worked... and worked... and when he wasn't working, he shut himself in his dressing room. For a couple of days after their argument, he would try walking around, but somehow, he either saw Sonny or his thoughts went to her, and he would shut himself in his dressing room. He finally met up with the guys, and he ended up bringing his drugs to work. He knew nobody went into his dressing room, and he made sure of it. He mostly brought his Mary Jane, but he was slowly starting to like cocaine more and more and would sometimes bring a little bit of that to work, too.

After not talking to his parents for a couple of weeks, they started to grow really worried. They would try to call him, and he would never pick up. They knew he wasn't dead, but they were wondering what he was up to. They figured, since neither of them were busy, they would pay him a visit to his apartment. Hopefully he would be there.

Chad invited his friends over one afternoon. Max, Trey, and Jason each brought a few things and they just sat around. They were mostly smoking, but their new found love for cocaine made them start sniffing that even more.

Chad still didn't believe he was an addict. He blamed the incident at the party on how it was his first time using cocaine, and even after that, he just said it was a great way to calm him down.

Suddenly, their was a knock on his door. Chad's smile dropped. Who was at his door? He wasn't expecting any guests... He got up and walked over to it. He looked through the door hole and his eyes widened. His parents were here! He ran over to his friends, who were in his living room, and said, "Quick! Get this stuff and hide in my room. My parents are here."

His friends nodded, smirking, and started grabbing all their stuff.

He ran back over to the door, took a deep breath, hoping he didn't smell or look bad, and opened the door. "Hey!"

His Mom ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him. He stood there for a moment, shocked, before wrapping his arms around her. "Oh, sweetie," she murmured, rubbing his back with one hand and his head with the other.

"Are you okay?" Chad asked, smiling at his Dad, who was standing behind his Mother.

"Well, when a son hasn't talked to their parents for a couple of weeks, their parents tend to get a little worried..." his Dad explained, returning the smile to his son.

Chad's smile faltered. "I'm sorry," he quietly said.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" his Mom asked, standing back slightly, placing a hand on his cheek.

Chad shrugged. "Been working a lot..."

"My poor baby," his Mom said, giving him another hug. "You're always working so hard..."

Chad didn't say anything. True, he was working a lot, and he was thankful for the distractions that that brought to him, but there were so many other things going on in his life. He didn't need his parents knowing about his "side duties"; they already looked so worried, and he didn't want to worry them any further.

"C'mon," his Dad said. "Let's get something to eat."

Chad nodded. "Okay. Let me get my stuff."

His parents nodded as he stepped inside. He opened the door to his room and quietly said, "I'm going out... my parents are here. I'll see you all later." His friends nodded. He shut the door before grabbing his keys, wallet, and phone. He stepped out of his apartment and smiled at his parents.

---

Sonny wasn't someone who snooped into people's personal lives. She couldn't help but wonder about Chad's life, though. He never really talked about his family; she knows that he's an only child and that his parents live outside of LA. She figured he was from LA, or at least California. But, other than those facts, she knew almost nothing about his family or personal life.

She used to wonder, but never extremely care. After these events these past six or so months, she can't help but wonder what his life is like. After their argument about his life not being so "perfect", she figured he thought his life was far from perfect. He was a teen heartthrob, he was a good actor, he won a lot of awards, he was rich... She guessed being popular and rich wasn't his idea of a perfect life.

She started heading over to his dressing room. She thought maybe they could sit down for a few minutes and talk... she wasn't too sure what to say to him, but maybe he knew of something to say to her. She knocked on his door, but surprisingly, it slowly started to open. She quietly peered into his room... nobody was there.

_I guess he left his door open_, she thought to herself as she stepped into his room. She looked around and frowned slightly. What was once an almost perfectly clean room was now almost a mess. Things were thrown around and there were clutters of random things on the floor. She stepped around the things and just stood there in his room, trying to clear her thoughts. She would leave a note for him, but she figured he probably didn't like people in his dressing room without his permission.

She turned around to leave when something on his desk caught her attention. She squinted, stepping closer to his desk. There was this white, powder-y stuff on there... She suddenly gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.

No. Chad... he couldn't be a drug user...

_"Whatever, Sonny. Chad Dylan Cooper is too good for drugs."_

She suddenly ran out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. She ran all the way to her dressing room, where she slammed the door shut behind her and ran over to her laptop. Thankfully, Tawni left the set early, so she wouldn't have any interruptions. She went to Google and typed in: "Effects of cocaine use"

The results shocked her, and made her look into the effects of other drugs. She was in a state of total disbelief after doing what seemed like hours of research. It all made more sense now:

Chad was a drug addict.

**A/N: Aah, so the story's coming together a bit more... expect quite a bit more drama in the next chapters ;) And thank you all SO MUCH for the reviews!!! Like I always say, they mean so much to me. Let's reach for 30 reviews this time, okay? :) **


	8. Confrontation II

_Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

Sonny came into the set the next day, more nervous than ever. She did hours and hours of research last night, and almost decided to talk to Chad about his problems... but how was she going to explain how she found out? By saying she just ventured into his dressing room, looked around, and just found his cocaine there? She knew he'd get upset, and she, honestly, did not want him upset at her.

Thankfully, this was a relaxation day, which meant that they could just sit around and brainstorm, write out new sketches, hang out... do whatever. Sonny immediately went to her dressing room and plopped down on her new bean bag chair. She sat there for hours, lost in her thoughts. She sighed and stood up, stretching before heading out. She wandered through the hallways, through a few different studios, before heading outside. She stood on the sidewalk and looked ahead. This was the back part of the studio, the part where you could see a park and part of the real world. She stared at all the people, all the children, all the families hanging out, walking by, having fun.

She looked around, taking in her surroundings, when she said Chad. He was sitting on the ground against the building, his head resting against the wall, his eyes shut. She stared at him for a moment. He looked content, yet tired, like he was thinking about a lot of things. "Chad?" she softly said, not moving from her spot, which was about twenty feet away from him.

His eyes opened as he looked over at her. They stared at each other for a moment. He couldn't believe she was there, actually talking to him. He gave her an incredibly soft smile before saying, "Hey."

"Hi." She just continued staring at him, remembering all that she saw the day before. Thoughts raced through her mind, and she grew more nervous than ever.

He noticed her shifting slighlty, almost uncomfortably, as she grew more nervous. He frowned slightly. "Look, Sonny, you don't have to-"

"We need to talk," she blurted out.

He just started at her before nodding. "Okay... Let's go to that park over there."

She nodded and watched him stand up. He walked over to her, and together they silently made their way over to the park. Sonny grew even more nervous, messing with her fingers. Chad could feel her nervousness and wondered what she needed to talk to him about. They finally reached the park and found a bench. Sonny was thankful there was no one around them, for she didn't know what was about to happen.

"So, Chad... we... I, uhh, we have to talk..."

"Sonny," he started. "Just take a deep breath. You don't need to be nervous."

She let out a nervous chuckle before deeply inhaling, then releasing the breath of air. "Okay... first, please, please don't be mad at me for what I'm about to tell you."

"What's wrong?" he softly asked, a genuinely worried expression on his face.

She looked over at him, biting her lip. "Well, yesterday, I-I wanted to talk to you, a-and so I went to your dressing room..." She sighed, quickly preparing herself mentally for what she was about to say next. "I just talked to you, because I-I felt a bit bad about our ar-argument..."

"So... you feel bad about our argument?" He smiled softly. "You didn't need to be nervous-"

"I'm not done," she quietly said, looking at the ground.

He nodded, still looking over at her.

She stayed quiet for a couple of minutes, looking at the ground. She realized, she needed to be strong, or act a bit stronger, in front of Chad, and try to be more direct about his problem. She looked at him and said, "I went into your dressing room... I didn't mean to, but your door was open, and I thought you might've been in there, but you weren't, so I was about to walk out, and I... I found something on your dresser..."

He just stared at her. His face was expressionless, it held no emotion, and Sonny was becoming more and more scared. "Did you find anything?" he finally asked, borderline angry.

She quickly nodding, biting her lip slightly. "Chad... I found cocaine on your dresser."

He stared at her for a few moments before smiling. "Sonny, that was just make-up powder. I guess I spilt some-"

"No, Chad, it was cocaine. I looked up pictures of it online, and it matched up."

They stared at each other for a few moments. Sonny felt very scared by Chad not responding, and Chad continued to look at her with no emotion. Finally, Chad broke the silence. "Sonny, I don't do drugs."

"Chad, you can't deny it-"

"Sonny, I don't do drugs."

"You've changed so much, Chad..."

"Sonny..."

"Chad, I'm afraid you're a drug addict."

"I AM NOT A DRUG ADDICT!" he screamed, standing up. "HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME OF SUCH A THING?!"

"Chad, you have to listen..." Sonny said, looking up at him with tears in her eyes.

"No, Sonny, YOU have to listen," he snapped. "How DARE you go into my dressing room? Who gave you permission to do that, anyway? How dare you accuse me of being a drug user, much less a drug addict, without any kind of solid evidence besides 'Oh, it looked like cocaine' and 'You've changed, Chad'. No one's going to believe you, Sonny, not with 'evidence' like that. You have no right to say anything like that to me."

She shakily laughed, shaking her head as she looked down. "I have no right... I just want to help you, Chad. One of my Mom's best friends was once a drug addict, and I saw him go through relapses when I was younger."

"So fucking what? Let me go call the WAM-bulance," Chad retorted.

Sonny glared at him. "I want you to come to two places with me, Chad. Obviously, you're too self-centered and in so much denial that you can't even admit you're a drug user, so when you've come to accept that, or when you think you want to accept it... I want you to come with me."

"Where?"

"I'm not telling you. The first thing you won't even come to if I tell you what it is, and the second thing has to do with me."

"Oh, whoopee, a trip to a farm in Wisconsin?" he muttered sarcastically.

Sonny scoffed, a smile tugging at her lips. "When you visit these places with me, you'll wish you had rather gone to a farm in Wisconsin."

"I bet they're not even that cool," Chad smirked. "That's why you won't even tell me."

"Oh, that's right, Chad Dylan Cooper doesn't go to uncool places."

"Damn straight."

"Chad only goes to places where he's popular, awesome, amazing."

"You're right."

"Chad goes to these places to get away from the rest of the world. Chad goes to these places because he thinks that's where he needs to be. Chad thinks that being cool is all about going to the coolest places, getting the coolest clothes, getting the coolest things..."

"Don't be so jealous, Munroe."

"Oh, believe me, Chad, I'm NOT jealous of you. Not. One. Bit."

"Prove it."

"I'm not going to prove anything to you," Sonny said, shrugging as she stood up. "I already told you what I needed to... and that, obviously, did not work out."

"Obviously," he said. He then softly added, "I'm not a drug addict, Sonny."

"Who are you trying to prove? Me or yourself?" she asked, frowining slightly at his quietness.

She walked out of the park and towards the studios, away from him. He stood there, pondering what she meant. Chad wasn't a drug addict... right?


	9. Time

_Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

_'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt...'_

Sonny wanted to believe that phrase. Yes, sticks and stones hurt people, that was true, but words, especially out of some people's mouthes, hurt more than any stick or stone ever could. She cared for Chad, a lot more than she wanted to. It was now November, almost exactly three months after Sonny made her proposal to Chad. Of course, it seemed like he had hated her more than ever now, with all the constant hateful things he said to her. He never came to personally speak to her anymore, he never texted or called her (for any real reason, anyway), and because of these things, she never really wanted to see him.

If they happened to pass in the hallway, he would mutter different words to her:

Whore.

Jerk.

Jackass.

Ass.

Asshole.

Loser.

His favorite thing to call her was "bitch". Some things he said to her included, "What a bitch", "Such a bitch", "Look at that bitch", or he would just say that one word to (or about) her.

At first, those words stung her hard. Why would he call her such hateful, strong, mean words? Over time, she tried ignoring it... sometimes, she would be successful in ignoring him, and other times, it really got to her.

One time, she was temporarily at the lunch table by herself when Chad came up to her. "Wow, look at this loser," he loudly said. Sonny already wasn't having a good day, so she balled her fists together. "Why are you by yourself, bitch?" She shut her eyes, trying to keep her cool. Of course, his taunting words just continued on, and she opened her eyes, tears brimming the edges. "Aww, look at the crybaby," he teased. His teases weren't fun and cute anymore, they were just mean. "Look at the bitch cry."

_'Chad Dylan Cooper: Once an respectable actor with a slight badboy image, now slowly becoming Hollywood's next trainwreck...'_

It had been a month since Chad last spoke to his parents. They were getting into more and more arguments, mostly over Chad's actions. He always denied them, making up more and more excuses. His parents were deeply concerned, and wished to only help him.

"Chad, honey, you have got to stop doing this," his Mom pleaded with him at his apartment one day.

"Doing what, Mother?!" Chad exclaimed, shakily running his hands through his hair.

"You've changed, son," his Dad said.

"Really? Have I changed? Everyone's always down my back now! I can't seem to get a break from anyone!"

"You're always making up excuses, Chad. I hear some excuses used for different situations over and over again," his Mom softly said. "What are you hiding from us, baby?"

"I'm not your baby anymore!" Chad snapped. "I'm 19 years old, for crying out loud! I'm almost 20! Can't I lead my own life without my parents trying to shove themselves down my throat all the time?!"

"Just know this, Chad," his Dad said. "No matter what happens, we'll always be here for you."

_'Disappearing on set, sometimes not showing up, no longer at Hollywood's parties... Where in the world is Chad Dylan Cooper?'_

Chad spent a lot of his time with Max, Trey, and Jason. They understood him the most, and they never tried to force themselves into his private life. If he decided to say something to them, they'd let him, and if he didn't want to, they didn't care. They were always there for him, and they helped him through these hard times.

These drugs that they gave to him always helped him feel better, and he never considered them to be bad.

Chad loved the feeling after using marijuana or cocaine. He tried heroin and other things before, but he mostly stayed with cocaine and Mary Jane. He tried them in different forms and loved them just as much. Why couldn't people see that? Why did they say drugs were such bad things?

He often thought about Sonny, and almost expected her to be on his side. Why was she trying to get him away from the things that made him feel better? He never understood her methods, and whenever he saw her, he reminded her of the pain she made him go through. He knew it always affected her, whether she showed it or not, and that made him happy. He sometimes wondered what she was talking about when she said she wanted to take him to two different places, but he could never quite figure it out.

_'You sometimes don't know what you have until it's gone... yes, we miss Chad's badboy attitude, and we want it back!'_

It was early December when Chad decided to have a civilized conversation with Sonny. He caught her in the hallway when he was done filming for the day. He figured she was, too, because she seemed to have all her belongings. He stepped in front of her and stood there for a moment, trying to come up with something to say to her.

"Huh, usually you know exactly what to say," Sonny muttered, looking up at him. She raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you want?"

"Let's talk?" He didn't mean for that to comeout as a question, but wasn't going to take it back.

She shrugged. "Alright. Whatever you have to say, just say it here, and saw it now. It's not like you haven't done that before."

"I... Take me to that place."

She furrowed her eyebrows together, thinking for a moment before smiling. "Huh. Really?" He nodded. "Too bad. Your offer ended back in September. I can't go to that place anymore."

"Well, then what about the second place?"

She thought for a moment before looking at her watch. "We'll be late if we don't go now."

"Wait, we're doing this now?"

"Are you coming or not?" she snapped.

He huffed and muttered, "Fine."

She led him to her car and said, "Hope you don't mind driving in my beat-down car..."

"Can it," he snapped, getting into her front passenger seat.

She sighed as she got into the drivers seat. She buckled up, started the car, and started to drive off. "Chad, I need to ask you one favor. I don't care if this is the last favor you ever do for me."

"Go on."

"I need you to act like you don't hate me."

Chad remained silent for a few minutes. Did he hate her? He didn't think he did. Did he act like hated her? He wasn't sure. He thought he was just teasing her, but the more he thought about it, it did seem like he maybe disliked her. "I don't hate you, Sonny."

She softly smiled and said, "You're doing a good job."

He frowned slightly but decided to let it go. Continuing to argue wouldn't do either of them any good. "Just give me a hint of where we're going."

She thought for a moment. "EDA."

"EDA?"

"That's all I'm saying."

"I've never heard of it."

"Well, then it'll be an even bigger surprised for you. Have you ever heard of EEA?"

"Nope."

"Well, they're almost the same thing, but mine is a bit more... well, people would consider where we're going a bit more dangerous than EEA."

"Wait, dangerous?"

"Shocked?"

"I won't say I'm not, nor can I."

"Well... actually, we're here." She pulled into the parking lot of a small building. She parked near the door and got out. Chad followed her into the building, and sure enough, there was a sign that read, "EDA MEETING". They walked into the room, where a few other boys and girls were standing around. Chad just stood there while she greeted the other people. Chad thought about the room as they all sat in the chairs, which were placed in a circle. The setup seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite put his tongue on it.

An older lady walked in, and she smiled and greeted everyone. "Well, Sonny, who do we have here?"

"Chad," Sonny simply said.

The lady smiled. "Aah. Well, welcome Chad. I guess we'll start the meeting off with you, Sonny."

Sonny smiled at everyone. "Well... hi, everyone, my name is Sonny..."

"Hi Sonny," everyone said.

Chad pursed his lips slightly. He's heard something like this before...

"...and I suffered with anorexia."

...except he didn't expect to hear that coming out of Sonny's mouth. Questions flew through his mind - when did she suffer with this? Why? How did he not know?

"I've been... well, to put it blatently, I've been eating for almost twelve months now..."

So, she got help a year ago. That was after she started working on So Random!... Hollywood caused her to change? He frowned slightly at the thoughts that raced through his mind. He continued to listen to Sonny talk, and he listened to each other person talk. Their stories were interesting and he found himself focusing intently on their problems. Pretty soon, two hours had passed, and the older lady said to them, "Well, our time is up today. Until next time, my dears."

Everyone stood up and talked amongst each other. The older lady walked over to Sonny and said, "I'm proud of you, sweetie."

Sonny smiled. "Thanks, Delia." She turned to Chad and said, "Shall we go?" He nodded. They walked out of the room and back out to her car. "So, Chad... I actually have one more favor to ask you."

"Ask away."

"Please don't talk about what happened today to anyone else. 'EDA' stands for 'Eating Disorders Anonymous', and, well, you're supposed to keep this stuff confidential. I had to go through a lot to get you into this meeting."

"Did you, Sonny? Did you really?"

She rolled her eyes. "Really." He laughed. At a red light, Sonny looked over at Chad and said, "Chad... remember how I said I couldn't take you to the first place I mentioned?"

He slowly nodded. "Yeah..."

"Well... tomorrow, you have the day off, right?" He nodded. "I will take you someplace tomorrow. You won't regret this decision."

**A/N: Thank you all SO MUCH for the reviews! I decided to post two chapters tonight... I'm not too sure how I feel about these. I promise, the next chapter will be so much better. We'll soon see more of why Chad does drugs, and what exactly happens when he does them.**


	10. Intervention

_Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

When Sonny dropped Chad off at the studios, she told him to meet her at the studios at 3PM. She impulsively thought of her idea, and she wasn't sure how she was going to get it sorted in less than 24 hours. She got back to her apartment and searched for hours for a few very important telephone numbers. She decided to call these people as soon as she found their phone numbers - once she told them her idea, she knew they weren't mad for her calling at that hour.

Sonny was going to set up an intervention.

Sonny had been through one herself, and it wasn't very glamourous or exciting at all. It was painful and it hurt... well, the words did; there was no physical pain involved during the intervention. She had let her anorexia take over her life; her grades, her performances, her life was slowly slipping away. Her cast mates, her Mom, and her other friends came to her one day and said they were worried about her. She was so confused at first, and did not want to hear their words, as concerned and worried as they were. She finally came to her senses and allowed herself to attend EDA meetings, plus a bit of counseling and regular hospital visits for six months afterwards.

Thankfully, word of her anorexia had never gotten out to the public, and no one outside of So Random! and her family and friends knew about her disorder. It pained her to know that she was causing emotional pain to her friends, but in the end, this little incident brought them all together.

She woke up the next morning and hoped that the time would go by quickly. She just wanted the time to come where she'd pick up Chad and she could take him to his intervention. She sat down in her living room for a while, thinking of what exactly to say to him. She knew this probably wouldn't go as planned, but she was going to try her best and make this as easygoing as possible.

---

Chad drove to Condor Studios and arrived in the parking lot ten minutes early. All throughout the night day, Chad thought about where Sonny could possibly be taking him. He thought maybe it had something to do with her EDA meeting the day before, but maybe it was something completely different.

As he sat in the parking lot, he pondered about yesterday's events. She had said that she thought he hated her, so why did Sonny suddenly open up to him? He never even realized she had an eating disorder, and was incredibly shocked to find she had one. She said she had started her recovery one year ago... When did she start to become an anorexic? How much did she weigh before she got help?

He then saw Sonny's car pull up beside his. He got out of his car and stood beside hers. She rolled her window and said, "We'll take my car."

He nodded and got into her passenger seat. She started driving off, to someplace that seemed outside of the area. "Where are we going?"

She paused for a moment. "We're visiting some people."

"Who? Where do they live?"

"Just a couple of minutes away... and you'll see."

She drove into the parkng lot of a small building. He looked at the building. It almost seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite think of what it was. They got out of the car, and he followed her inside. They got into the elevator and went up to the sixth floor. He followed her to room 615, where she knocked on the door. The door opened, and a dark blonde haired boy opened the door.

Chad gasped, stepping back slightly. "Alex?" he choked out, his eyes wide.

Alex nodded. "Hey, Chad."

Chad looked at Sonny and asked, "Sonny, what's going on?"

Sonny lightly grabbed his arm and tried to pull him forward, but she could feel him tense up. "Chad, please, just come inside."

"I... no, Sonny. Why are we here?" Chad demanded.

"Chad, please, just for a few minutes," Alex quietly said.

Chad kept looking at the other boy and girl before storming inside. Once he got in, he saw his parents sitting on the couch. "Mom? Dad?" He spun around and saw Sonny and Alex already inside. "Sonny, what's going on here?"

"Chad... please... just sit down..." Sonny said, walking up to Chad.

"No!" Chad exclaimed. "No!" He didn't know what was going on. He was so confused, and frustrated by all these people suddenly around him, especially people he hasn't seen nor talked to in a long time.

"Chad," his Mom said, standing up and walking over to her only child.

Chad continued to back up. He was shaking his head. "I... I don't know what's going on here."

"Chad," his Dad sternly said, standing up. "Just sit. We need to talk."

"Please," Sonny softly said, looking at Chad. Her face, her eyes, her stature pleaded for him to just do what they were saying. "Chad, just sit. We really want to talk to you."

Chad quickly moved into the living room and sat down in a single chair. He didn't want anybody sitting next to him. He folded his arms and looked at everyone expecantly.

Chad's Mom and Dad sat down on the couch nearest to Chad's, Alex sat in a single chair across from Chad, and Sonny stood in the doorway. Sonny looked at Chad before saying, "Chad... we're all worried for you."

Chad stared at her, his mouth firm, his eyes angry. "Why?"

"Honey, we know you're doing drugs," Chad's Mom said, turning and looking at him.

"So what if I am?!" Chad exclaimed. "I'm perfectly fine!"

"Do you not remember what happened to me when you were younger?" Chad's Dad asked him.

"That's different," Chad stated.

"How is that?" his Dad asked.

Chad just sat there. He really had to think about how their situations were different. "I'm not addicted to drugs."

"You're not addicted, huh?" his Dad asked. Chad nodded. "Do you even know the sings of an addiction? Of course an addict wouldn't know their addicted. You probably think you're not an addict because the results of these drugs make you feel great. You think an addiction would be filled with bad health problems. Son, I've been suffering with bad breathing problems since my second stint wtih prescription pills. My problems aren't as prominent as they used to be, but they can be slightly worse now that I've gotten older. Is that what you want, Chad?"

Chad just sat there, staring at his parents. True, the drugs he took made him feel great, and he didn't think there were any problems with that.

Suddenly, Alex spoke. "Chad, remember when we were little? We used to be around each other all the time. Our parents thought we were separated at birth, for how much we looked alike, and how we acted so much like each other. We both got into acting, and of course you were better than me, but that was okay, because we still got to see each other all the time. But then you moved into Hollywood and you got movie rolls, and then you got accepted on to MacKenzie Falls... and then we never saw each other anymore. You never called me, or returned my calls, never texted me, never came to visit..."

"People grow up and move on," Chad said, shrugging. "Like you said, I got more movie and television deals. Big deal. I work a lot." He stood up and said, "I don't have time for this. You all are crazy. Yes, I do drugs, big whoop. Who doesn't?! I'm not an addict! Is it that hard to understand!" He started to move forward, but Sonny put a hand in front of him, on his torso, trying to stop him.

"Chad... if you don't stop, you'll die," she quietly said, looking up at him.

"I won't die!" he exclaimed before pushing her out of his way. Instead of just pushing her lightly a few inches away from him, he forcefully pushed her into the corner of the wall. The sharp corner crashed into her back as she collided with it. She gasped as she stood there, stiff for a few moments, before he knees buckled and crashed onto the floor beneath her.

Chad couldn't believe what he just witnessed. He pushed Sonny... he hurt Sonny? He watched her trying to steady herself with her hands, but she leaned forward even more, her body racking with shakes. "S-Sonny..."

She shakily looked up at him. "The old Chad wouldn't have done this," she tearily said, tears brimming her eyes. "The old Chad never called me names like 'whore' or 'bitch'. The old Chad wouldn't have literally pushed anyone, no matter how much they made him upset. The old Chad had a caring side, even though he acted arrogant and rude in front of the paparazzi and most other people. I liked the old Chad, we all did! Everyone in this room... that was who we cared for, who we're worried about."

He just stared down at her, his mouth open. He saw the tears falling down her face. He looked over at his parents and Alex. Alex and his Dad had concerned and shocked looks on their faces, and his Mom was quietly crying, her head buried in her hands. He slowly bent down and landed on his knees. He stared at his hands, a confused and shocked expression on his face. He looked at Sonny, who head was resting against her hands. Her head was turned, and she was looking at him. He reached over and touched her fingers softly. "Sonny..."

"Chad, I-I need to get to the hospital..."

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! I'm glad you all liked the two last chapters. Let's continue to put more reviews in - let's try to reach 45 reviews before I update next! Please? :) And remember, ideas, criticism, comments... everything is welcome!**


	11. Hospital

_Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

Chad was pacing the hallway in front of Sonny's room. So many thoughts were racing through his mind, but his mind was mostly focused on Sonny. She ended up scratching her back upon hitting it, and she was bleeding on the way to the hospital. He sped the whole way to the hospital and, luckily, found a parking space right near the door. Fortunately, she didn't need any stitches or any kind of surgery, and they just disinfected the wound and put a bandage on it.

He was upset about the meeting that she had set up with Alex and his parents, but the end of the meeting made him realize that there may be something wrong with him. Sonny was right - he would have NEVER done something like that before. He still couldn't believe he did something like that - it shocked him incredibly, and he was sure it shocked Alex and his parents. He hadn't received any calls or texts from them, though; true, he did rush off after Sonny asked to go to the hospital, but expected some form of communication from them by now.

He sat down in a chair across from her room. A few minutes later, he saw someone who didn't look like a doctor walk into Sonny's room. He frowned slightly, wondering who that person was. A few minutes later, the doctor and nurse left the room. Ten minutes after that, the unknown person came out of the room. She walked over to Chad and said, "Hi, you must be Chad. I'm Dr. Laura."

Chad nodded. "Hi..."

"Sonny can't really receive any visitors right now that aren't her family, but I'm allowing you to come in... she wanted me to tell you why I came." Chad slowly nodded, and Dr. Laura continued. "Sonny relapsed recently. As you know, she began receiving help for her eating disorder, anorexia, almost one year ago. Five months ago, she wasn't required to come get hospital checkups, but she still saw me as a psychiatrist from time to time. The last time I saw her was about three months ago, and she seemed fine then. Unfortunately, her doctor said she had low blood pressure and her weight / height index was a bit low, and after talking to her, I've concluded that she's had a relapse in her recovery..."

Chad just sat there. Sonny was suffering? Five months ago... that was right before she found the cocaine in his room. That was right before he acted like a jackass towards her and called her some of the meanest names he's called anyone. Of course he hadn't noticed any changes in her, and he continued to feel guilty.

"She specifically asked to see you; she figured you were still here, and she was correct. I'm allowing you to visit her for fifteen minutes before I'm going to ask you to leave until she can receive non-family visitors."

Chad nodded and stood up and walked into Sonny's room. Thankfully, Dr. Laura hadn't followed him in. He frowned at Sonny's sight. She had at least two tubes connected to her, one in each arm, and she was laying on her side. She looked up at him as he walked in.

"Sonny, I am so sorry," Chad said, walking over to her and sitting in the chair beside her bed.

Sonny shrugged. "Did Dr. Laura tell you?"

He nodded, slightly hurt that she wasn't awknowleding his apology. "Why?"

"Why are you doing drugs?" she retorted. She sighed and shut her eyes. "Look, I'm not surprised I relapsed. I wish I hadn't, and in the back of my head, I actually figured I was slipping, but I didn't do anything about it. That's why I relapsed." She opened her eyes and looked at him, a hint of sadness in her eyes. "I'm sorry I tried to set up the intervention. I'm sorry I called Alex and your parents. I shouldn't have done it..."

"What you did opened my eyes, Sonny," he muttered. "Hurting you made me realize I had changed. I... I'm still not sure about my addiction, I really don't know if I'm one, but... I... I want to get help, Sonny. I miss being your friend. I miss the times we used to talk, whether we 'argued' or actually got along. I never hated you, Sonny, and after what you said to me yesterday, I realized what I did was in bad taste, and I must've seemed like a bastard."

"Talk to your parents," she told him. "Talk to Alex." She smiled softly at him. "I believe you when I say you want to get help. Your addiction, your disorder, is a lot worse than mine, and you'll need to go through a lot more than what I went through, but remember this, Chad: I will always be here to help you."

Chad smiled and nodded. He rubbed Sonny's arm before standing up. "I'll call you... hopefully... I'm going to talk to my parents and see what happens from there."

Sonny nodded and softly said, "It was nice seeing you, Chad."

He nodded, still smiling at her, before walking out of the room. He walked down the hallway and got out his phone before he heard someone calling out his name. He turned around and saw his Mom running towards him. He wrapped his arms around her as she reached him. She gave him a squeeze as she hugged him. "Oh, baby," she murmured, rubbing his hair and back.

"Mom, I'm getting help," he muttered.

She smiled and sniffed. "Baby... your Father and I will be here every step of the way. We'll help you find the best program, we'll help you through this."

Chad nodded and sighed. "I'm sorry, Mommy," he quietly said. He only called her "Mommy" when he was truly upset, or when he felt incredibly guilty about something.

She laughed softly at the nickname. "It's okay, sweetie. Everyone makes mistakes. You'll get better, though. You saw your Father - he eventually got better."

Chad nodded. "Where is Dad?"

"Oh, he's in the bathroom. Alex is in the lobby."

"Alex is here?" Chad softly asked, pulling back and looking at his Mom reluctantly.

His Mom nodded. "Of course he is. He was so... relieved when Sonny called him. He missed you so much. I'll talk to your Father, you go talk to Alex."

Chad nodded and walked off. He completely forgot about Alex, and that also hurt him. Like Alex said, they used to be best friends. They were always together. They looked alike, too, and whenever they were out, people thought they were twins. He walked into the lobby and found Alex sitting in a chair in the back of the room. Chad walked over to him. Alex looked up from his iPhone and stuffed it into his pocket as he stood up. The two boys stared at each other for a moment.

"So..." they both started before chuckling.

"Thanks," Chad suddenly said. Alex looked at him curiously, so Chad said, "For being here. For going along with Sonny's plan."

Alex shrugged. "I meant what I said, man - I miss you. It's unfortunate that we're together again under these circumstances, but..." He shrugged once more before quietly adding, "I'm just glad to see you again."

Chad nodded. "Let's sit and talk before my parents get back."

Alex laughed as they sat down. "Dude, I doubt they'd interrupt us unless it was important. Plus, after you left, your Mom was, like, 'Alex! C'mon, sweetie, we'll take you to the hospital! No, no, no, don't worry about driving yourself, we'll take you!'"

The two boys laughed. They continued to sit there in the lobby for what seemed like hours. Chad's parents smiled and kept to themselves on the other side of the room; they didn't want to interrupt the two of them. Chad was honestly having a great time, and there weren't any drugs, alcohol, or sex around him.

Sometime later, Alex's phone started ringing. He looked at it and sighed. "It's my parents... I forgot I was supposed to visit them tonight. Whoops."

Chad laughed. "Always so forgetful, Alex."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Well, I'll see you later, Chad."

"You bet," Chad said, smiling as Alex walked off. He stood up and looked around. His Mom was resting in another chair, reading a magazine. He walked over to her. "Where's Dad?"

"Oh, he had to go to work," she said, placing the magazine down. "You and Alex talked for a long time."

Chad shrugged, smiling, as he sat in a chair next to her. "We were catching up."

She nodded, smiling. She rested a hand on his arm. "How's Sonny doing?"

Chad paused for a moment. He decided not to tell her about Sonny's anorexia relapse and said, "She's better. She doesn't hate me."

His Mom grinned. "Well, that's good."

"Hey Mom?" he asked, looking at her.

"Yes?"

"I... I don't want to go to a recovery place here. I want to go to one out-of-state."

"What about Mackenzie Falls?" she asked, frowning slightly.

He also frowned. True, they were about to go on their winter break, but that was only for a month. He couldn't get completely better during that time period. "I don't know," he murmured. He groaned and buried his head in his hands. "I'm Mackenzie, the lead character... I screwed up..."

She softly rubbed his back. "Well... you may have to quit. Maybe they could write out your character for the rest of the season?"

"I can't quit," he murmured. "But... I'll talk to them tomorrow."

"I'll come with you, sweetie," she softly said. "Your Dad has to go to San Francisco, otherwise he'd be coming, too." She reached over and gave him a hug. "Wherever you decide to go to recover, I'll be supporting you 100 percent. Your Father will be, too. And I know Alex and Sonny will be there to support you as well. After we talk to the bosses tomorrow, we'll look up places for you to go to."

Chad sat up and hugged his Mom. "Thanks, Mom. You're truly incredible."

She smiled and sniffed, tears stinging her eyes. "Oh, honey..." She hugged him tighter. "It sounds so good to hear you say that again."

_'Chad Dylan Cooper Drops Out of Mackenzie Falls?'_

_'Chad Dylan Cooper Admits to Drug Usage!'_

_'Chad Dylan Cooper - Recovering Drug Addict?'_

Chad and his Mom talked to the main director of Mackenzie Falls and Mr. Condor, the President and Executive of Condor Studios, about Chad seeking a recovery program. Surprisingly, they were more than okay with allowing him time off for his problems - they said they would just come up with a great storyline for his absense. Of course, within the next few days, word got out that Chad was going to temporarily leave Mackenzie Falls. He set it straight on his blog:

_Dear Readers,_

_I'm sure you heard by now, but I am temporarily leaving Mackenzie Falls. I will be coming back someday, hopefully by next season. I am going into a recovery program, and I will be going there in early January. I want to spend the holidays with my family and friends before leaving. I will write more about this later._

_Peace out, suckas!  
-Chad_

Chad's phone started to vibrate. He opened it and got up. Alex was at his door, and he hadn't heard any knocks at all. They were going to have a bit of a boys night that night, and they were going to continue to catch up on each other's lives and such.

**A/N: Yay! We reached the review quota! Haha. Let's reach for 55 this time, okay? ;) Anyways, thank you all so much for the reviews! And, I have to thank SparkleInTheSun for giving me ideas for this chapter (and for upcoming ones). I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**


	12. Colorado

_Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

Sonny was released from the hospital a few days ago, one day after she had been admitted. Connie was definitely disappointed in her daughter, and, like Sonny, wasn't surprised that she relapsed. She, of course, hoped that she wouldn't, and as was going to help her daughter get back to a healthier weight once more. Sonny was now on vacation, as was the rest of the So Random! cast, so since she got home, she and her Mom spent time together.

It was in the middle of the afternoon one Friday, and Sonny stared at her phone. She hadn't received any phone call or text from Chad. She wondered how he was doing. Her Mom was currently at work; she was a nurse and had the night shift that night. She was sitting on her couch, now watching TV, when there was a knock on the door. Confused, she got up and walked over to the door. She opened it, and was very surprised to find Chad standing there. "Hey," she softly said.

He smiled at her. He seemed tired, almost exhauted. His eyes weren't quite as sparkly as they normally were. His hair and clothes were also slightly disheveled. "Hey," he murmured. "Can I come in?"

She nodded and quickly stepped aside. She shut the door behind him as he walked into her apartment and asked, "So what brings you here?"

"I... I want to ask you something, Sonny."

She nodded and looked at him curiously. He looked at her, biting his lip slightly. "Will you come with me?" he suddenly blurted out.

She tilted her head, furrowing her eyebrows together. "Where?"

He stared at her for a moment before saying, "Oh! Sorry, um..." He sighed and looked at her couches. "Let's sit down?" She slowly nodded and walked over to her couch. He sat down on the other side of the couch and said, "So, I've decided to go to a rehabiliation clinic out of state. I'll be going to one in Colorado, close to Denver. It's a program specifically for people my age..." He sighed. "I'm not asking you to join me in the program... this is mostly for alcohol and drug users... but, um, will you come with me out to Colorado?"

She continued to look at him for a moment. She was pretty shocked; true, she believed him when he said that he wanted to get better, but she hadn't expected him to act so suddenly, and that made her happy. She smiled at him and nodded. "Yeah."

He beamed and leaned forward and tightly hugged her. "Oh, Sonny..."

She laughed as she wrapped her arms around Chad, resting her head on his shoulder. "Oh, Chad..."

"We can do this, Sonny," he murmured, referring to his drug and alcohol problems and her latest anorexia relapse.

"Mom's helping me," she said. "And Tawni's been sending these..." She paused. "...interesting texts. They're supposed to be nice." She shrugged. "And I'll be thinking of you," she softly said into his ear.

He hugged her tighter. "Thank you, Sonny. For believing in me, for actually pushing me to get help."

She nodded as they looked at each other. Suddenly Chad leaned forward and their lips met in a soft, gentle kiss. It wasn't how either of them imagined their first kiss together, but now that they've done it, they wouldn't have it any other way. They each broke the kiss, their foreheads meeting as their bodies, their faces, still remained close to each other.

"I'm definitely going to miss this," Sonny murmured, looking into Chad's eyes and smiling softly.

Chad chucked, his chuckle low and deep. "Well, we'll have to make the most of our time left together, now won't we?"

She softly giggled. "Now, now, Chad, let's not get too ahead of ourselves. Let's just sit here and... I don't know. Sit. Talk. When are you leaving?"

"Two days."

She silently nodded, her hands reaching down and grabbing Chad's. "How long will you be gone?"

"Six weeks. That's how long their main program is, and that's how long I hope to stay there. If I can go after that, then I'll move back here and stay in an outpatient program."

"You've thought a lot about this."

He nodded. "Mom, Dad, and I have talked a lot these past few days. I even got to talk to Alex some more."

She smiled. "You never realized how close he lived to you, did you?"

He shook his head. "I didn't. I'm glad he was there, and I'm glad you contacted him."

She shrugged. "I knew he would want to help."

"How did you find out about him?" he asked, leaning against the back of the couch.

She quietly laughed. "Well, it took me a long time, but... well, first, I called your parents. It took me a while to find their number. I told them my plan, about the intervention, and they said they wanted to help. They told me to contact Alex, but they didn't have his number. Finally, they called me back with his parents numbers, who told me his number, and... well, I'm sure you can figure out the rest."

He smiled, shutting his eyes. She smiled at him, also resting against the back of the couch. She started rubbing her hand through his hair. "You look... kinda ruffled today, Chad."

"Apparently, I'm detoxing," he murmured, sighing. "Or, something like that. I... I did a lot, Sonny. I really didn't realize how much I used until now. It... It's weird. I'm having more trouble sleeping. My body feels... weird. Almost like it's craving for more, and I... I can't..."

She was softly rubbing his arm. "I know the feeling." She sighed before saying, "When I was first admitted into the hospital for... for anorexia, it was almost as if my body was mad at me. They basically forced me into eating. I don't like throwing up, and bulimia never worked for me, but... but I felt physically sick, as if my body was trying to make me physically ill so those foods would get out of my body."

"That's awful," Chad painfully said, opening his eyes and looking at Sonny sadly. He then compared her situation to his; well, he thought about each situation. "Mine's probably going to be a million times worse..."

She shrugged. "Let's hope not. It was awful, Chad. I've never felt that way in my life, and I never want to experience something like that again."

"What about now?" he asked her. "How do you feel?"

She sighed. "The only reason I dropped weight was because I had a lot of stress going on. When I get really stressed out, I usually just focus on the matter at hand, and unfortunately, eating became something that wasn't a priority. I had a lot going on-"

"And I just added to that..."

"Chad," Sonny sternly said. "I'm not going to lie - those words did hurt. A lot. They affected me slightly, but that was after I started to relapse." She smiled softly at him and said, "I forgive you, Chad. Please don't forget that."

"How? How could you forgive me?"

She paused for a moment. "Because I knew the real Chad, the one I'm looking at, was still in there. I knew that those drugs, the alcohol, whatever, had made you say all those things."

Chad started to shut his eyes once more and muttered, "Sorry to break this serious moment, but..." He yawned. "I'm actually a bit tired."

She laughed and snuggled close to him. "I can tell. Try to rest some tonight, Chad. We've got packing to do tomorrow."

---

Their trip to Colorado was a quiet one.

At the airport, Chad was accompanied by his parents. His Mom continued to hug and kiss him, something he could return only so much, and his Dad hugged him once, giving him a few words of wisdom. They also thanked Sonny for going with their son to Colorado, and for helping him out so much. Once they were all done saying their good-byes, Chad and Sonny dropped off their luggage and made their way towards security and their gate.

They got there a little over an hour early, and neither of them were too hungry, so they just sat down in two chairs a little bit away from other people. Sonny wrapped her arms around Chad's torso and rested her head on his shoulder. Chad wrapped an arm around her shoulders and rested his head on top of hers. "You have no idea how much it means for you to be here right now," he murmured.

"I'm glad you asked me along."

He nodded. Pretty soon, they were boarding their plane. They decided to get first class seats; they got a little more privacy in first class. They sat there in silence most of the plane ride. They continued to rest against each other, trying to get as much rest as possible before they landed. The plane ride was about two hours, and each agreed that their time in the air felt less than that. Once they had landed, they quickly got off the plane and headed over to luggage, where they found their bags and headed towards the exit. They took a taxi from the airport to Chad's recovery center, which was about 45 minutes away from the aiport. They continued to mostly sit in silence, but they held each other's hands during the taxi ride.

Around 45 minutes later, they arrived at the facility. It was a nice big building, mostly white on the outside. Chad and Sonny stepped out of the taxi, Sonny explaing to the driver to wait there while Chad got his suitcase out of the trunk. Sonny walked over to him and smiled lightly. "Ready?"

He shrugged. "I guess."

Together they walked inside and over to the receptionist desk. "Hello," she said.

"Hi," they said.

"You must be Chad," she said, looking at Chad, who nodded. "Good. I'll have Dr. Johnson come out, and she can talk to you about your stay."

Chad and Sonny nodded, and waited as the receptionist walked off. Sonny reached over and placed her hand lightly on Chad's back. She noticed he was shaking slightly and said to him, "It's okay, Chad."

Chad didn't say anything as the receptionist and a doctor walked up to them. "Hello, you must be Chad. I'm Dr. Johnson," she said, reaching her hand forward. Chad nodded and took her hand, shaking it. She looked at Sonny and asked, "Will you be joining him?"

"Oh, no, I'm just here to drop him off," Sonny joked. Dr. Johnson laughed lightly, and Chad cracked a small smile.

"Well, thankfully for you, these are visitor hours if you wanted to stay for a couple of hours," Dr. Johnson said.

Sonny and Chad looked at each other. Sonny nodded and said to Dr. Johnson, "Sure."

"Well, first, I need to talk to Chad privately about his stay here and such," the Doctor said. "But, you can stay out here in the lobby until all that's over with. It may take up to half an hour."

"That's fine, I'll wait," Sonny said.

"Okay, Chad, if you'll follow me this way..." Dr. Johnson said, starting to walk off.

Chad looked at Sonny nervously and shrugged. Sonny gave Chad a smile and a tiny wave. Chad smiled slightly in return before walking off. Sonny sat down in one of the chairs near the side wall and picked up a couple of magazines in front of her. A little over a half an hour later, she got up and used the bathroom.

---

Chad walked down the hallway, stretching. He had gotten his luggage checked, and, of course, there was nothing illegal in there. Dr. Johnson commented on that, saying, "Most patients who come here have a little bit of something on them, so congratulations for being one of the few who didn't sneak anything in." Dr. Johnson also explained the program to him, and told him they would start sending him to Narcotics Anonymous meetings in a few weeks. He walked into the lobby and just stood there. There was no one in there... where was Sonny? He plopped into a chair and bent forward slightly, shakily running his hands through his hair.

"Chad?"

He jumped up and spun around. "Where were you?!"

"The bathroom..." she murmured, looking down.

He reached forward and gave her a big hug. "I'm sorry..." he murmured into her hair. "I thought you left..."

She laughed softly. "Oh, no. I had to pee. Sorry for worrying you..." she said, wrapping her arms around him. "How was it?"

He shrugged, still holding onto her. "Simple. She checked my bag, and nothing was in it. She told me what to expect, and... that was it."

"What's going to happen when you're here?" she asked, resting her chin on his chest slightly as she looked up at him.

"Regular group meetings at first, plus individual meetings with a couple of doctors, including Dr. Johnson. Then I'll start going to NA meetings once they give me the okay, which is hopefully in a few weeks."

She nodded. "Let's walk around here."

He nodded and took her hand. Together, they walked mostly around the outside of the building. "It's so cold..." Chad muttered, his hands now in his pockets.

"I love it!" Sonny happily said, twirling around on the snowy grounds. She stared up at the sky and smiled. Suddenly, snowflakes started falling around her. She gasped and said, "Chad, look! Snow!"

He laughed. "Yep." He looked at her and said, "I haven't seen real snow in years..."

"Really?" she asked, looking over at him.

He nodded. "The last time I saw snow..." He thought about it for a moment. "The last time I saw snow was about five years ago. Alex, his family, and my family spent the holidays in New York City."

"Ooh, I bet it's beautiful there during that time of year."

He nodded. "That was such a fun trip..." He sighed and looked down.

She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him in another hug. "Maybe we'll go to New York one day. Or maybe you and Alex could go back."

He nodded. "That would be nice," he softly said.

She looked up at him and smiled before leaning up and quickly kissing him on the lips. "C'mon, Chad, don't be too down while I'm here, let's have some fun in the snow!"

He laughed and said, "Okay. What are we going to do?"

"Make snow angels, of course!" she said, plopping down on the snow. She then started to make her snow angel.

He laughed, staring down at her. "I think I'll pass on that. I'll just watch you make yours instead."

She giggled and finished her snow angel. She got back up and said, "All done!"

He looked over and grinned. "You are a bundle of energy."

"You aren't the only one who hasn't seen snow in years," she told him. "Remember, I used to live in Wisconsin. It snowed there every winter, and I loved it. Of course, LA doesn't get any snow, so..." She shrugged.

He linked his arm in hers and said, "Let's go inside."

She stayed close to his side as they walked into the building. The receptionist, who was sitting at her desk, stood up when they walked in. "Excuse me!" she said. They turned to her, and she said, "Sorry, but visitor hours are about to end in ten minutes."

"Okay, thanks," Chad said, smiling at her before turning to Sonny, who was frowning. He frowned and said, "Well..." He stopped; he didn't know what to say.

She turned away, tears filling her eyes. "I, uhh..." She didn't know what quite to say either.

"Sonny, this isn't good-bye," he softly told her, using one hand to tilt her face towards him. "We'll see each other again. And, during the hours I can use my phone, I'll call you. And I'll e-mail and text you, too. We'll still keep in contact."

She quickly nodded before latching her arms around his neck and hugging him, her body so close to his. He wrapped his arms around her waist and tightly hugged her. "Keep smiling, Sonny."

She nodded, letting out a tearful laugh. "For you, Chad."

"And for yourself," he told her. "I don't want, or need, to come back to find you had more problems."

She nodded. "I promise I'll get better," she softly said.

He smiled softly. "Me, too."

They looked at each other and leaned towards one another, giving each other one long, passionate, final kiss. They kissed each other for a good minute before moving back slightly, their foreheads resting against each others, their bodies still extremely close.

"I guess I'll go now," Sonny murmured, stepping back. "See you later, Chad."

He smiled, his hands at his side. "See you in a while, Sonny."

**A/N: Aah!!! Sorry about not updating in a few days! I was a bit busy, and then I had a bit of writers block... I hope you all liked this chapter. And yay for reaching 55 reviews! I'll make it easier for you all this time - let's reach 60 reviews! Haha.**


	13. Return

**Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted.**

Chad spent a total of six weeks at the rehabilitation program. The first few days, he went through a withdrawal, a detoxification, from the drugs. He felt physically sick, mostly nauseous, but would sometimes throw up. The only meetings he went to during those few days were personal one-on-one sessions with Dr. Johnson. She didn't want him going to group meetings until his withdrawal symptoms lessened. After those few days, he started to feel slightly better, and was given some medication to help with the detoxification.

He talked to Dr. Johnson about the meetings he would be attending. They agreed that he wouldn't start attending regular NA meetings until he moved back to Los Angeles, but he would attend at least one at his stay at the center. He would attend group meetings every other day, and would have one-on-one meetings with Dr. Johnson on the days where he wouldn't have a group meeting.

He took detox medication the first three weeks of his stay to help with any oncoming withdrawal symptoms. After the first few days, but up until about four weeks later, he continued to feel withdrawal symptoms lightly. There would be moments where he felt fine, but others were he felt extremely tired, or nauseous, and during the first couple of weeks, there would be moments where he felt like he couldn't move at all.

He kept in contact with Sonny, Alex, and his parents during his stay. He would often text Alex, since he was usually working and Chad didn't want to bother him too much. He would call Sonny and his parents everyday. He would call his parents first, and they had nice, but usually short conversations. He usually talked to his Mom more, since his Dad was usually out working during the day. He got a total of three hours to use his phone, from 1-4PM. The people at the facility were strict about their phone use, and if they were caught using their phone during other parts of the day, then they would have privilages taken away.

Chad's "graduation" would happen during the last week of January. It wasn't a real graduation, and there wasn't some big ceremony announcing him leaving the facility. It was just a bigger good-bye, with food and drinks set up, and everyone would say good-bye to each other. His parents were going to fly up to Colorado to pick him up and bring him back to Los Angeles. Alex and Sonny could not make it; they were both scheduled to work that day. Sonny would be at the airport that night when Chad arrived, and Alex said they would be able to hang out the next day, since he worked during both the day and night. It was a sweet and quiet "graduation" - Dr. Johnson talked to Chad's parents, and he talked to some of the other residents. A lot were new, and some he had been around with since early in his stay. They all wished each other the best of luck. He even made a few friends there, and they agreed they would try to keep in contact.

"I know I keep saying this, but you look so good," Chad's Mom said, hugging him as they walked outside.

Chad laughed. "Thanks, Mom."

The three of them got into the taxi and chatted quietly on the way to the airport. His Dad told him about funny and interesting things that had happened at work, his Mom told him about a few modeling jobs she had gotten, and he told them about the people there at the facility. They continued to talk about those things, and possible upcoming family events on the plane ride to California.

---

Sonny walked into the airport and sat down near the exit to Terminal 4. She knew he was flying with American Airlines, so she sat down near that exit. She got to the airport about 45 minutes early, in case his flight was early. She sat down and grabbed her phone. Of course, she had received a few texts during her drive, so she answered those while waiting.

Chad walked out of the plane. It had arrived 25 minutes early, and he was afraid Sonny wasn't there yet. He felt nervous, almost as if he had butterflies in his stomach. Chad walked away from the gate and towards luggage and the exit. As they rode down the escalator, Chad looked around, trying to find Sonny. Suddenly he saw her, sitting down, looking at her phone. She started laughing, and she looked up while laughing. Suddenly, she saw Chad and her smile grew wider, her eyes shining more. She stood up and happily waved at him. As soon as Chad got to the bottom of the escalator, he started walking towards her. She ran over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist and started spinning her around. She giggled, holding onto him tighter.

He put her down and stepped back slightly as they took in each other's appearances. True, it had only been a month and a half since they last saw each other, but it felt like longer for both of them. She seemed to be healthy (weight-wise). Her hair was longer and a bit darker. He seemed to not be quite as muscular, and seemed to have gained a tiny bit of weight, which she assumed was from the lack of drugs. He definitely lost part of his tan, but even though he didn't look quite the same as before, he was still perfect in his eyes, and it was like the old Chad was back, smiling at her.

"You look good," he softly told her, reaching forward and grabbing her hands.

She smiled and shrugged. "I guess. You look nice."

He chuckled softly. "I feel nice, too."

"That's good," she said, grinning at him. He grinned before leaning forward and kissing her. He placed a hand in his hair as she wrapped her arms around his torso, kissing him back. He pulled away slightly and said, "I need to get my luggage."

She giggled and said, "Way to ruin a moment, Cooper."

"It's true," he said, shrugging as he let go of one of her hands and walked towards the luggage. He found his parents, who were holding his luggage.

"Well, there you are!" his Mom said, smiling. "I was worried you two had ran off somewhere." Chad and Sonny laughed, Sonny's laugh a bit more nervous. "Well, c'mon. You're more than welcome to join us for a late dinner, Sonny."

"Sure, I'd love to," Sonny said, smiling slightly.

"Oh, sweetie, don't be scared we know your name," his Mom said, smiling as they walked out of the airport. "Chad here talks about you a lot."

"Oh, does he?" Sonny asked, looking up at Chad, grinning. He merely shrugged, a cheeky smile laying on his face.

"Now, did you drive here, or did you take some other form of transportation?" his Mom asked as they stepped outside.

"I drove," Sonny said.

"Do you mind if we ride with you?" his Mom asked. "I'm sorry to ask you this, but we took a taxi here..."

"No, it's no problem at all," Sonny said, smiling. "Let's just go this way..." She parked on the first floor of the parking garage, and it was very close to the entrance. His parents put their stuff into the trunk while Sonny got into the drivers seat. Chad sat down next to her while his parents got into the backseat. "Where to?" Sonny asked, pulling out of the spot and driving out of the garage.

"La Hacienda," Chad suddenly said. He turned to his parents and said, "If that's okay."

"That's perfect," Chad's Dad said, smiling. "We'll go to the one by our house, near Highway 105."

"You like Mexican food?" Sonny asked, getting onto the right highway.

Chad nodded, smiling. "It's a nice little place. They cook some great Mexican food."

It took them over half an hour to get there, due to a bit of traffic, and like Chad mentioned, it was a bit of a tiny restaurant. There were a few cars parked out front as Sonny found a spot near the door. They went inside, and people there immediately recognized them.

"The Coopers!" one of them happily greeted. "Oh, we haven't seen you in forever! Why, Chad, you've grown up so much!"

Chad laughed. "Good to see you, too, man."

"Four of you tonight?" he asked. They all nodded. "Now who is this lucky lady?" he asked, referring to Sonny as they walked towards the back.

"Sonny," Chad said.

"Ah, yes, I thought I recognized you," he said, setting down four menu's on the table. After they all sat down, he said, "Enjoy!"

They looked over their menu's as their waitress came over and happily greeted them before taking their drink menu's. "Oh, and can you get us some white cheese queso?" Chad's Dad asked. The waitress nodded and walked off.

Chad set his menu down, and his parents also set their menu's down relatively quickly. Sonny looked over the menu before smiling as she put down her menu. Their waitress came back with their drinks and their queso. "The usual for you three?" she asked Chad and his parents, who laughed and nodded. She smiled and wrote down their order. She looked at Sonny and asked, "And for you?"

"I'll have the beef taco salad, no tomatoes or guacamole," Sonny said.

Their waitress nodded and walked off. Sonny, Chad, and his family sat there and ate happily, talking and laughing. Chad's parents started bringing up old stories of Chad, something he was a bit embarrassed about.

"One time, Alex and Chad decided to switch places," Chad's Dad.

Sonny giggled. "Oh, do tell this story."

Chad groaned as his Dad began, "Well, as you know, Chad and Alex looked very much alike. Platinum blond hair, blue eyes, a bit of tan... they were almost the same height, and strangers swore they were twins. Anyways, one day, they decided to switch places, thinking we wouldn't notice..."

His Mom continued, "Of course, we did notice, and we told Alex's parents, and we decided to play along with it. By the time they went to bed, both boys were dying to get back to their own houses. They were so homesick!"

Sonny was continuously giggling by the end of the story as Chad blushed. "That's hilarious!" she said inbetween giggles.

"So, I must ask you two," his Mom said, leaning close to them. "I'm sorry if this is a bit personal, but I must ask... are you two actually dating?"

Chad and Sonny looked at each other, deeply thinking about it. Were they dating? They had never discussed it before, even though they had kissed and clearly acted like one. "Yeah, we're together," Sonny said, looking at his Mom and smiling happily.

His Mom smiled. "You two are so cute, I must say."

"Well, we should probably be heading back out, it is getting a bit late," Chad's Dad said, leaving the money on the table and getting up. Everyone nodded, agreeing, and got up. They headed back out to Sonny's car.

"If you'll take a right out of the parking lot and head straight and turn on Sunrise Avenue, we'll show you where our house is at," Chad's Mom said as they started to drive off. It only took them about five minutes to get to Chad's parents house, and Sonny marveled at their house as she parked in their driveway. It was a two-story brick house, and it seemed very big. There were two cars, one Hybrid Saturn Vue and a Prius parked in the driveway.

"Thank you so much for dropping us off," Chad's Dad said, patting Sonny's shoulder.

"Thank you both for dinner," Sonny said, turning around and smiling at them.

"Are you still staying the night here?" Chad's Mom asked as his Dad got out of the car.

Chad nodded. "Yeah. I'll be in in a couple of minutes, though." His Mom nodded as they grabbed everyone's belongings from the trunk and walked back to the house.

Chad and Sonny sat in her car for a few moments, glad to have a little more alone time. They looked at each other and softly smiled. "Thanks for being there today," he softly said.

She nodded. "You're welcome."

They leaned forward and kissed each other. It was a simple kiss, but they could each feel the sparks that the kiss caused, the same spark that ignited during each of their kisses. "I would definitely call this going out," Sonny murmured against his lips.

He huskily chuckled. "Me, too. I doubt we're friends with benefits."

She softly giggled. "I know we're not."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Good."

"Good."

They laughed at their joke, something they still continued to do.

"I missed this," Sonny confessed, sitting back in her seat.

Chad nodded. "I did, too. Saying that through texts just wasn't the same."

She nodded. "I agree." She yawned and said, "You should go inside. I need to get home."

"Why don't you stay here?" Chad asked. "My parents won't mind. They seem to like you. Plus, you live at least 45 minutes away from here, and I don't want you crashing on the side of some road."

She thought about it for a moment before shrugging. "Okay."

They got out of her car and walked inside. "Sonny's staying the night!" Chad called out once they were inside. He wasn't quite sure where his parents were, and he was a bit tired as well.

Chad's Mom suddenly came out of one of the rooms and walked over to them. "Oh, goodness, you two do look very tired," she said. "Well, Sonny, you can borrow some of my clothes to sleep in, and you're welcome to any of the food you want, you can use any of the bathrooms and watch any of the televisions... well, except for in a couple of rooms..."

"Mom... I'll tell her where she can and can't go," Chad said, smiling.

His Mom laughed. "Of course. Well, your Father and I are also tired, so we'll be heading off to bed shortly. See you two in the morning," she said, kissing her son on the forehead and hugging Sonny before walking off.

Chad chuckled lightly. "Alright, follow me this way..." Together they walked upstairs and down the hallway into Chad's room.

Sonny looked around. It was almost like a guest room, except she could see a couple of his belongings in there.

"Here you go, dear," Chad's Mom said, popping into the room and handing Sonny some clothes.

"Oh! Thank you," Sonny said, taking the clothes from his Mom.

His Mom smiled and nodded. "You're welcome. Goodnight, you two."

"'Night," Chad muttered while grabbing some clothes out of his drawer. He turned to Sonny and said, "You can change in here. I'll be right back; I'll just be in the bathroom."

Sonny nodded as he walked out of the room. She quickly changed into his Mom's clothes, which included a grey t-shirt and a pair of black long shorts. Surprisingly, they fit well, and were quite snug. She opened the door when she was done. She placed her clothes next to her purse on the floor and sat on the edge of Chad's bed.

As she stretched and yawned, Chad walked into the room. He was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of shorts. "You look nice."

She grinned as she flopped back onto Chad's bed. "Thanks."

"Hey, now, you can't just hog up the whole bed," Chad said, sitting beside her.

She yawned again. "Where should I sleep tonight?"

He shrugged. "You can sleep in here, you can sleep in one of the guest rooms..."

"Do your parents trust me in here?"

He shrugged. "I'm sure they don't care. I'm almost 20. As long as we don't make too much noise..."

She giggled and playfully hit his chest. "Oh, Chad, we're not doing anything... tonight."

"Ooh, so when are we doing something?"

"Not tonight," she persisted, fixing herself so that her head was on one of the pillows.

"And usually I sleep on that side," he said, laying down next to her. "But I'll let it slide tonight."

"Thank you," she said, leaning up and turning off the light. She could feel him wrapping his arms around her waist as she scooted closer to him. "Chad..."

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for letting me stay here."

"You're welcome. Like I said, I didn't want to find out you had crashed somewhere..."

She smiled. "Thanks for caring, too."

He nodded. "You, too, Sonny. Goodnight."

"Night."

Things were silent for a few minutes before Chad asked, "Sonny?"

She grumbled lightly. "Yes?"

"We forgot something."

"...and what would that be?"

"A goodnight kiss, of course."

She laughed and turned around. She placed a hand on his cheek and leaned forward, giving him a sleepy yet incredibly passionate kiss. He was shocked at first before kissing her with as much passion, his hand bringing her closer to him.

"Is that good enough for you?" she murmured, her head returning to her pillow.

He chuckled and said, "Definitely. Goodnight."

**A/N: I hope this was good! I won't be able to update until Sunday, because I work all day today and tomorrow. Thanks for the reviews!! Let's time, let's reach 70 - I'm giving you more than enough time to review! ;) Haha.**


	14. Moving

_Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

**Warning: This chapter is a high T, almost M. You have been warned.**

Chad blocked Trey's, Max's, and Jason's numbers during his stay at the facility. He was a bit nervous at first, since they were constantly calling him and sending him text messages. Dr. Johnson had insisted, "If you wish to move on past your addiction, you must move away from those who brought you to the addiction." It was hard, but he finally did it. He knew they wouldn't be happy... would they even care that much after a while?

After coming back from rehabiliation, he hadn't gotten any visits or letters or anything from them. He was relieved at first, and, for the most part, forgot about them. He attended his first NA meeting one week after returning. It was a closed meeting, thankfully, so no lurkers could just wander in and oogle at him. Dr. Johnson had told the group that he would be joining them then, and they honestly did not seem to care that he was a famous celebrity. They treated him like a normal person, something he was immediately grateful for. Even though he was appreciative of their normal-ness, he wasn't sure about opening up to them. After a few people introduced themselves, he started with:

"Hello, my name is Chad..."

"Hello, Chad."

"...and I'm a drug addict."

"How did you become a drug addict?" the group leader, Steve, asked.

Chad thought for a moment. "I had these 'friends'... they introduced them to me over a year ago."

That's all he needed to say before they moved on. It was mostly an introductory meeting for Chad; he was determined to stay clean, and he wanted to know what these meetings were about. They had meetings every week, and out of the four weeks in a month, three were closed, and one was public. He wasn't too excited about those meetings, and he found out some of the other members didn't like those meetings, either. Some people who walked in were a bit too intrusive on their personal lives, and some people didn't like that. Steve said it wasn't mandatory to go to the public meetings, though he encouraged everyone to go to at least a few.

After the meeting, the members chatted for a while, and Chad tried chatting with at least everyone, and talked to Steve a bit more, who gave him papers about NA and their meetings and such. He eventually left, and as he walked out into the parking lot, he looked over and saw Jason standing there. He froze as he stared at Jason; he was not expecting him to be there.

"Well," Jason said, walking over to Chad. He looked at the papers in Chad's hands and chuckled. "NA? Really, Chad?"

"Really," Chad said, glaring at him slightly. "Now if you'll excuse me..."

"No," Jason interfered. "Why are you abandoning us, Chad? Why are you betraying us? We're your friends, Chad. What happened?"

"I had an addiction, and it was taking over my life."

Jason started laughing. "Really, Chad? That's the cheesiest bullshit I've ever heard! Did you learn that in rehab?"

"Shut up!" Chad exclaimed. "Just leave me alone!"

"Fine," Jason easily said, shrugging. "This won't be the last time you see me, Chad. You'll be crawling back during your relapse, begging for us to forgive you..."

Chad wasn't in the mood to hear him anymore. He shoved past his former friend and walked over to his car. He quickly got in and quickly drove off, wanting to get out of the area. He drove back to his apartment, but sat in the parking lot for a long time, not wanting to go inside. He had considered moving elsewhere, and had actually began to clean up his place and start packing things up, just in casae a moment like this came. Now seemed like the perfect time to move.

---

Within the week, he had moved to another apartment. It was a bit closer to his parents apartment, but still close to Condor Studios. Both Sonny and Chad filmed during the day, and Alex worked during the day, so they couldn't pack until the night, but his parents would sometimes go over to his apartment during the day and help him out even more. He had quickly bought and paid for a new apartment, so he was able to start moving in as he was packing out of his old one. He wasn't worried about selling it until after he had moved. He definitely wasn't going to keep it, but didn't want to work, pack, sell his apartment, and continue to do other activities all at the same time.

Thankfully, the next NA meeting was a public one, so he decided to not go to that one, even though his parents insisted he went. He decided to go to the next public one; he wasn't ready for this one. He called Steve to tell him about his decision, and Steve didn't seem to mind at all, and completely understood.

Of course, it took him a few days to unpack, but he wasn't going to bother Sonny, Alex, or his parents with that, though they all insisted on helping him. He got all his clothes, shoes, kitchenware, and electronics unpacked, and was slowly unpacking everything else.

A few days after he moved in, after having a short day at work (surprisingly, he got out around 2:30), he went onto his patio and sat there for hours. It was the second week of February, and of course it was in the 70s in southern California, and he saw a variety of people swimming in the pool. He watched people walk around the apartment complex, watch people leave their apartments and come back, or people leaving, and others coming back. He got on his laptop after a while and did a few things: checked his e-mail, read on some news, checked some websites, and then he decided to update his blog. He didn't say much, but talked briefly about his stay in Colorado and how he was unpacking at his new apartment. He was only choosing certain people to talk to about what happened at the facility. Maybe one day he would tell the world, but this time was not the time.

He suddenly heard a knock at his door. Confused, he set his laptop down and walked to his front door. He opened it and found a slightly amused Sonny at his door. "Finally, you open the door," she said, walking in.

"How long were you there?" Chad asked, shutting the door and following her over to one of his couches.

"About five minutes," she said, laughing. "I almost called you."

He laughed and sat down next to her. "Sorry. I was out on the patio. Beautiful view."

"You left work early," she said, pulling her legs close to her and turning to Chad.

He looked at her and nodded. "Yeah. I had to film a couple of scenes for the new episode. Mackenzie returns from visiting Europe - his family bought more water from there, and they plan on selling a new brand of European water."

Sonny nods. "Interesting."

He laughed and shrugged. "You sound so enthusiastic."

She giggled. "Oh, I'm just excited to see you back on the show. It just hasn't been the same..."

"Of course. What would Mackenzie Falls be WITHOUT Mackenzie?"

"A boring show with a confusing title," she said, shrugging.

He laughed, and she giggled with him. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around his torso, her legs resting slightly on top of his. He wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on top of hers. He kissed the top of her head and asked, "So what brings you over here today?"

She paused for a moment. "Mom left yesterday."

He frowned. Her Mom had been thinking about going back to Wisconsin for a while now, to take care of her parents and be closer to her family. He didn't realize she'd be leaving this soon, though. He rubbed her back slightly and said, "I'm sorry, Sonny."

She shrugged. "It's sudden, but I've been expecting it for a while now... I mean, it's not like I'm 16 and can't really live by myself. I'm 18, and, well, I guess I can live by myself..."

He brought her closer to him, to where she was almost sitting on his lap. She adjusted herself to where she was on his lap, her head resting on his shoulder. "You can stay here for a few days, if you want..."

She thought about that for a moment, her fingers tracing his back. "Sure," she murmured, looking at his face.

He smiled at her and said, "You sure?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I would love to."

He grinned and leaned down and kissed her. She straightened up, kissing him back. She moved her legs, her legs know placed around his legs, straddling his waist. He placed one hand in her hair and the other on her waist, bringing her closer to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, their bodies touching as they continued to make out. He broke the kiss as he started kissing her jaw, neck, and collarbone. She shut her eyes, her breathing more erratic as he continued to kiss her.

"Chad..." she whispered, leaning into his kisses.

He grinned, continuing to leave little kisses on her neck as his hands roamed lower, past her waist and around her butt and thighs. She let out a mix between a gasp and a moan as his hands continued to roam her body. She let her hands fall from over his shoulders and onto his chest, going lower until she reached the bottom of his shirt. She lifted up his shirt slightly and let her hands roam around his stomach lightly. She could feel his muscles tense under her touch, and she grinned.

They continued this for a few minutes, touching and kissng each other, before they stopped, breathing erratically. They looked at each other. Sonny's shirt was unbuttoned, Chad's shirt was off, their hair was frazzled, and each wore looks of lust on their faces.

"Sonny..." he started.

"Chad," she suddenly said, her hands cupping the sides of his face. She looked him in his eyes, his sparkling, beautiful blue eyes, and said to him, "I want you."

He nodded, grinning lightly. "Okay. Let's move to my room then."

---

Sonny lost her virginity to Chad that night. She knew this wasn't his first time, but he knew it was hers, and was very gentle during their lovemaking. She knew it would be painful, but it wasn't as painful as she thought it was going to be.

Afterwards, they laid in bed, taking in what had just happened. Chad rolled over after a few minutes and wrapped his arm around her bare waist. "Are you okay?" he softly asked.

She nodded, turning on her side and smiling at him. "Yeah."

He leaned forward and softly kissed her. She softly kissed him back before laying her head on the pillow. Suddenly, her phone started to vibrate, and she grabbed her phone from the table next to his bed and looked at it. She started responding to a few text messages. He grinned and started kissing her neck and shoulders.

"Chad..." she whined.

"You know you like it..." he said, grinning at her as he continued to leave kisses around her body.

She stifled a moan as she started typing quicker. "N-not right now, Ch-Chad... I'm kinda tired..."

"Oh, you know you're up for one more round..." he said, slipping a finger inside of her.

She squeaked, quickly placing her phone on the table and looking at him. "F-fine! But..." She tilted his head towards him. "I want to be on top this time."

**A/N: And here's a filler chapter for you! Yes, as you can tell, I ran a bit out of ideas, so I decided to put in a little mature Channy for you ;) And happy Channy day? I heard August 31st is "official Channy day" (why it's today, I'm not sure), and today is that day, so... yep! Here's your present =D I -might- be able to get a little something up later, but I can't guarantee anything. And I especially can't guarantee anything Tuesday, since I'll be starting school then, and I work a little bit after school ends. But, I'll try to have something up later today, but sometime Tuesday morning / night at the latest (assuming I start writing later). And thanks for the reviews! We reached 70 quickly, haha. Let's reach for 80 this time, okay? =)**


	15. Not Again

_Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

Chad woke up the next morning with a small headache. He looked at the time and saw that it was 8:37AM. He groaned, realizing he didn't get too much sleep. He reached over and his hand kept landing on his bed. He looked over and saw that Sonny wasn't in his bed anymore. He shot out of his bed, quickly put on his boxers and walked into his living room. He looked into the kitchen and saw Sonny standing there in front of the stove, cooking something. He sighed to himself and crept over to her. She didn't seem to notice him until he wrapped his arms around her. She gasped and turned her head. She sighed and grinned when she saw him.

"Good morning," she said, reaching up and giving him a kiss.

"Mm, good morning to you, too," he teased, returning the kiss.

She giggled and turned around, stirring the eggs. "I hope you like scrambled eggs. Eggs are one of the few things I saw in your fridge."

"They're fine," he said, playing with the ends of her shirt. Well, it was one of his shirts that she was wearing, and besides underwear, that was the only thing she was wearing. "You look great in this shirt," he huskily said into her ear.

She blushed, biting her lip slightly. "I-I'm sure you look better..."

"Nah, you look incredibly sexy right now."

She giggled, still blushing. "Thanks."

"Mmhmm," he said, kissing her temple before walking over to the fridge. He looked inside and said, "What do you want to drink?"

She peered behind her and looked in. "Um... orange juice."

He nodded and grabbed two cups and poured the orange juice into each. He set them down on the table before getting out plates and placing them down near Sonny. "What else are you making?"

She shrugged. "Do you want anything else in particular? I was thinking maybe some toast..."

"That's fine," he said, nodding. He watched her as she put the eggs onto their plates and then placing the frier into the sink. He titled his head, watching her walk... "Sonny, are you okay?"

She laughed and nodded, placing the bread into the toaster. "Just a little sore, that's all."

He chuckled and said, "If it means anything, I'm sorry."

She shrugged, turning around and leaning against the counter. "Apology accepted, even though I was willing and well-aware of any... after-effects that would happen." As he began to laugh, she said, "A couple of my friends were... well, let's just say they were more than willing to tell their stories about their 'first time'."

"And how was yours?" he asked, stepping forward.

She shrugged, smiling coyly. "Well..." She giggled at his perplexed face. "It was magical. I'm glad my first time was with you." He grinned and leaned down and kissed her. She smiled against his lips, returning the kiss before asking, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How old were you when you... you know, had sex for the first time?"

He paused for a moment. He hasn't had loads of sex, but he's had it with more than a few girls. "Sixteen. And it was very awkward..."

She giggled, grabbing the finished bread from the toaster and setting it down onto their plates. "How so?" she asked, sitting down in one of the stools next to his counter.

He sat down next to her and bit into the eggs. "Mm, these are good."

She laughed harder. "Thanks, Chad, but you're completely avoiding my question."

He laughed and said, "Okay, well, I was 16 and at this party. I was totally flirting with this; pretty good looking, nice hair, nice legs..." Sonny cleared her throat, glancing over at Chad suspisciously. "Hey," he said defensively. "I'm only telling you the story, and that's how I felt then. You've got a better body than any girl I've ever been with or seen."

"Suck up," she murmured.

He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, so we were flirting at this party at my friend's house, and she said to me, 'Let's go upstairs', so we did and we made out and things got pretty heavy and she just starting taking off her clothes! I followed her, and immediately knew we were going to have sex. She asked me if I've ever done it before, and of course, I told her yes, and she believed me... until we actually started having sex. Let's just say I didn't know exactly what to do..."

By the time he was done telling his story, she was bent over the table, one of her hands covering her mouth, trying her best to stifle her giggles. He just stared at her, an eyebrow raised. "Is something funny?"

She nodded. "Chad Dylan Cooper... not knowing what to do when having sex?"

"Well, by that point, all the pornos I had seen were with ladies always starting out on top, so that's how I assumed it always was..."

Sonny couldn't contain her laughter any longer as she laughed loudy. Chad groaned. "Sonny!" he snapped.

"Sorry!" she said, her laughter dying into small giggles. "It's a really funny story, that's all..."

"But she did say I was good, for someone doing it for their first time."

She rolled her eyes. "I guess she felt it was nice to feed your ego after having it smashed."

He chuckled, finishing his food. "I'm surprised you didn't call her out for being whore-ish."

She giggled. "I did think that, actually." She also finished her food and grabbed their plates before standing up and placing them in the sink. She walked over to Chad and wrapped her arms around his neck, her head resting next to his. She whispered in his ear, "I need to take a shower."

With a mischivieous smirk on his face, he turned to her and said, "Okay. I'll join you."

---

For a couple of weeks, Sonny and Chad spent a lot of time together. She spent a few more nights at his house. A few of her belongings, mostly clothes, had made their way over to his apartment. Neither brought it up, nor did they mind. He also spent a couple of nights at her house, and some of his clothes had managed to stay there as well. They also spent time with each other at work; the cast of Mackenzie Falls wasn't too sure about them together, but did not bring it up. The cast of So Random! knew they would get together eventually, though they still didn't like Chad's other castmates.

One night, Chad went to a small Hollywood party. Sonny was there for a little while, before she had to leave. He decided to stay for a few more minutes... and that's when his mind drew a blank. He remembered bits and pieces from the rest of the party, and he didn't like what he remembered. The bits he remembered included his relapse, something that caused him to stay home all week.

He told the producers that he had out-of-state family problems, and that's all he would say to them. He wanted to confide in his parents, and he especially wanted to confide in Sonny, but couldn't. He stayed in his apartment the whole week, mostly laying around, trying to rid his head of thoughts of drugs and alcohol. He swore he went crazy the first couple of days; it was like his body was happy he went back to drugs that one night, and was upset that he was not continuing to use them.

It might have been the extreme withdrawal talking, but he decided to call Jason later that week. "Okay, look, we'll get together one final time, and that's it."

He could almost hear Jason smirking on the other line. "Fine. My house, tonight, 7PM."

He got out all his extreme cravings then, and finished his addiction by using marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and drank vodka, tequila, and beer. It was almost like the old days, when they would hang out at one of their houses and get extremely high or wasted, except this time, it seemed like he was using these things a million times more.

That's all he remembered from that night - the next thing he knew, he was in a hospital room, tubes attached to him hands and arms, and another tube running through his mouth and throat. He could hear his heart monitor beeping as he grew more and more nervous.

What happened?

He kept asking himself that as the doctor and nurses walked in. One of the nurses was writing on a clipboard, while the doctor was reciting his vitals. "Mr. Cooper," the doctor said. "You need to calm down."

Calm down?! Chad thought to himself. I can't talk, and you're telling me to calm down?!

As he continued to struggle, the doctor said, "Mr. Cooper... listen to me for a moment." Chad calmed down slightly and looked at the doctor, who continued, "My name is Dr. Smith. You were found about three days ago unconscious on a sidewalk in northern LA..." Chad's eyes widened as the doctor said, "We thankfully got your vitals up and running, but we were worried you weren't going to make it for a moment. Unfortunately, you've been in a slight coma, almost like an extremely deep sleep, for almost four days, but we were sure that you were going to wake up relatively quick, since your brain vitals were stable and well. Now, if you will hold still, this nurse here will take this tube out of your throat."

Chad nodded as the nurse walked over to him. "Take a deep breath in, and as I'm pulling this out, keep breathing out." Chad nodded and did as he was told while the nurse pulled out the tube. It took about five seconds, and those were five long seconds, but the tube came out. He gasped slightly before muttering, "Water." The nurse handed him a cup of water as he hastily drank it down.

"Your Mother is here if you would like for her to come in," Dr. Smith said. Chad nodded, and the doctor stood up and walked out of the room, the nurses following him. Chad sat in the room for a few moments before his Mom came rustling in.

She ran over to her son and hugged him. "Chad," she whispered as he feebly hugged her back. "Baby, sweetie... what happened?"

He paused for a moment. He figured, he might as well own up now. "Please don't be mad at me..."

She sighed sadly and asked, "You relapsed, didn't you?" When he nodded, she nodded and started rubbing his back. "I figured this would happen... I wish it wouldn't have, but your Father relapsed, and well..."

"I know..." he murmured, hugging her a bit more tightly. "I... I'll tell you how it happened..." He let go of her so he could face her properly and explained everything, from how Jason came up to him that day to what happened at the party, to him calling Jason and lastly, that unfortunate night where he seemed to use everything that was there, except use so much more of it than what he used to.

His Mom intently listened to his story. When he was done, she nodded, thinking about all of it. "I won't lie, Chad, I am disappointed, but..." She sighed and shrugged. "I love you so much, and I know you can overcome this."

He nodded and smiled lightly. "Thanks, Mom."

She smiled and leaned forward, giving him another hug. He returned the hug and asked, "Where's everyone else?"

His Mom leaned back into her chair and said, "Your Father's at work; he's working on a big project, and I called him as soon as I was informed that you were awake. He should be by later today or tomorrow. Alex is at work, but he came by three days ago. Sonny came by when you were admitted, but I haven't seen her since..."

Hearing that almost broke Chad's heart. "You knew there were drugs in me, didn't you?"

His Mom sighed slightly and nodded. "Yeah. Alcohol, too. That's why I wanted to know so badly what had happened."

"Did... did you tell Sonny and Alex?"

"Sonny overheard the doctor telling me. Your Father and I haven't told Alex, and as far as I know, he doesn't know..."

"Can... can you call them? Ask them to come here?"

His Mom smiled and nodded. "Of course. I'll step outside and call them, and I'll be back in a few minutes."

After his Mom left, a nurse came in and recorded more vitals - his blood pressure, his heartbeats, and so on. His Mom walked in as the nurse was jotting down all his vitals. "Is he doing alright?" his Mom asked.

The nurse nodded. "Yep. Good blood pressure, good heartbeats, good breath sounds. With the doctor's permission, he should be able to leave tomorrow. They want to keep him for observation overnight."

His Mom nodded. "Understandable."

The nurse nodded and walked out of the room. Chad's Mom sat back down in the chair next to his bed and said, "Okay, so I got a hold of both of them - Alex will be by tonight, and Sonny's on her way over."

Chad nodded. "Thanks."

She nodded. They continued to quietly chatter for about half an hour until a knock was heard on the door. They looked over, and Sonny was standing in the doorway. Chad's Mom got up and said, "I'll leave you two alone for a bit," she said before opening the door. "Hello, Sonny."

"Hi, Mrs. Cooper," Sonny said, smiling slightly at his Mom before walking into the room. She sat in the chair next to his bed for a few moments, not exactly knowing what to say.

"Hi, Sonny," Chad quietly said, smiling slightly at her.

She stared at him. "Hi, Chad," she finally said.

He just stared at her, confused. "What's wrong?"

He swore he saw tears well up in her eyes as they continued to sit there. "Really? What's wrong? Oh, I don't know, my boyfriend got back from rehab over a month ago, and now he's doing drugs and drinking again."

"Sonny-" he stared.

She held up her hand. "No, Chad, I... why?"

He sighed. "M-my old friends... I saw them one day, and then... remember that party we went to a few weeks ago?" She nodded. "I... I think somebody slipped something into my drink, because after you left, I... I can't remember much, but what I do remember, I was doing... I don't know what I was doing... and I felt so bad, that... that I just kept myself locked away from you all, I... I didn't want to disappoint you anymore, so... so I thought, I'll call the guys back up and just get it all out of my system, do it one more time..."

"HOW STUPID ARE YOU?!" Sonny suddenly screamed, tears brimming her eyes. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE GETTING BETTER, AND THEN YOU GO OFF AND WASTE ONE NIGHT BE DOING ALL THESE DRUGS AND DRINKING LIKE A MADMAN?!"

He just stared at her, frowning. He knew he deserved all the screaming, all the harsh words.

"HOW COULD YOU?!" she screamed, tears falling down her face. "HOW COULD YOU, CHAD?" She covered her face with her hands and started sobbing into them. He stared at her for a few moments before reaching over, trying to touch her hand. She pushed his hand away, muttering, "Don't touch me."

"Sonny... I'm really, really sorry..."

"Are you, Chad?" she asked, looking him. Her makeup was smeared slightly, her eyes were bloodshot, tearstains were all over her cheeks. "You told me you wanted to get better. You told me that, together, we'd overcome our problems. And suddenly... you relapse. Horribly." She took a shaky breath in before saying, "They found you on the sidewalk, Chad. Thankfully, it was the police who found you and took you here. They had to revive you. They... they weren't sure if you were going to make it at first... it was like... like your body was ready to give up then..."

"I... Maybe we shouldn't be together..."

Her eyes widened. "W-what?!"

"I mean... I... I keep letting you down... I kept these secrets from you... I don't want to keep disappointing you. I hate seeing you upset, and over time, I've made you more and more upset..."

She just stared at him before smacking his cheek. "YOU BASTARD!" she screamed. He rubbed the now tender spot on his cheek as she continued, "What about all those good times we had?! When you got out rehab, we never had a fight! We teased and played with each other, but those were all good moments! I gave my virginity to you, just a few weeks ago! And..."

"No, Sonny, there's always been more negative than positive in our relationship," he murmured. She felt more tears fall down her cheeks as he said, "I called you names. I lied to you. I snuck around behind your back. I left you and had sex with a girl."

"Can't you accept that maybe I forgive you, and that I want to help you?" she whispered.

He shook his head. "I... I need some alone time, Sonny..."

She stared at him for a few moments before quickly standing up. "Fine, Chad. If you don't want me, than I don't want you either." She stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

**A/N: Yes, this chapter went from so happy to so sad so quickly... and, yes, the drama will continue on! Thank you all so much for the reviews. I read all of them and take in every word you all say to me! I won't give you a review limit this time... you'll have to figure that out for yourself ;) But, please review. As well as saying how good or bad the chapter is, please tell me what you liked and / or didn't like about it, as well as any ideas you may have for upcoming chapters. I'll have the next chapter up soon... maybe ;)**


	16. Forgiveness

_Disney: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

Chad was once again written out of Mackenzie Falls. Due to the sudden turn of events once again, and because the producers found out that the viewers wanted more of the attention focused on the other characters, the show's title went from "Mackenzie Falls" to "The Falls". Chad wasn't surprised; he was more surprised that they hadn't changed the title earlier. He told the producers he would be back someday, and they believed him, telling him he was welcome back at any time.

He moved in with his parents; he kept the majority of his belongings at his apartment, which he still kept, but was going to be staying with his parents for a while. They all knew it would be for the best, and Chad was more than willing to move into his parents house. He wasn't going out-of-state for his next round of rehabilitation, but was going to become an outpatient at a facility near his parents house. With the exception of Chad going to the facility everyday, life was almost normal at the Cooper household. This was the first time in a very long time that his family regularly lived and spent time together liked this, and they all realized then how much they missed that.

Alex was disappointed in Chad. He didn't yell at Chad, but was a bit quiet when telling Chad how upset he was with him. Chad believed Alex was true upset, for that's how he acted when he was unbeliviengly upset - he was really quiet. Chad felt extremely guilty, and apologized many times to Alex. Alex came over a few times, and even spent the night once. They slept downstairs in the living room and stayed up all night watching movies and playing videogames, and when Chad's Mom woke up, she made everyone a big breakfast that included pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, and toast - she and Chad's Dad loved pancakes, while Chad and Alex preferred waffles. They fell asleep after breakfast, and stayed asleep until about one PM, which is when Alex's phone alarm rung. He had to go to work then, but they knew they would see each other soon.

And then there was Sonny.

Chad didn't talk about Sonny, except for when he told his Mom that they broke up. He told her to tell everyone else (meaning Alex and his Dad) and to not mention it to him. She was visibly upset and shocked, but didn't bring up any concerns, sadness... whatever emotion she was feeling. He thought about her constantly, whenever he was by himself thinking about life. She hadn't tried to contact him, either, which made him both upset and shocked. But, at the same time, he definitely wasn't going to try and contact her, so maybe he wasn't quite as shocked.

The tabloids weren't quite as vicious, but it wasn't like they weren't talking about him. There were a few headlines about him, such as:

"IS TEEN HEARTTHROB CHAD DYLAN COOPER BACK IN REHAB?"

"WHEN WILL CDC LEARN?" 

"CDC FOUND ON LA STREETS - WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?"

He wasn't proud of those, especially since they seemed harsher than the last set, but he continued to pay no attention to them. It wasn't like before, when he was in denial and though the tabloids were crazy - he still thought the paparazzi were a bit crazy, but he wasn't in denial about his addiction anymore. He read a few of the articles, and thankfully, not much was given; there was usually a small article and a picture of him attached to it.

A few weeks after the incident, Chad went back to Condor Studios to receive his final paycheck. He received his paychecks after each episode aired, and he would normally receive them on set, but because he was temporarily not filming anymore, he had to go down there and pick it up. He got to the set early in the afternoon, after having a one-on-one meeting with his doctor at the facility. He got to the set while they were in between filming scenes, and was happily greeted by the cast and crew. Mr. Condor was there, too, and handed him his check. He stayed on the set for a little while, mingling with everyone there. Soon, they had to start filming, and he decided to leave the set.

He got back to his car and drove off, away from Condor Studios. He wasn't sure how long he would be gone, but he figured it wouldn't be any longer than the last time he was gone. As he drove away, he turned on the radio to one of the local popular stations. It was on commercials, but he liked the music on this particular station the most, so he didn't turn from it. Suddenly, a new song started to play, and the voice of the singer immediately caught his attention. He thought she sounded familiar, but as he listened to the song, he tried to identify who she was.

_Did you forget  
That I was even alive  
Did you forget  
Everything we ever had  
Did you forget  
Did you forget  
About me_

_Did you regret  
Ever standing by my side  
Did you forget  
What we were feeling inside  
Now I'm left to forget  
About us_

_But somewhere we went wrong  
We were once so strong  
Our love is like a song  
You can't forget it_

_So now I guess  
This is where we have to stand  
Did you regret  
Ever holding my hand  
Never again  
Please don't forget  
Don't forget_

_We had it all  
We were just about to fall  
Even more in love  
Than we were before  
I won't forget  
I won't forget  
About us_

_But somewhere we went wrong  
We were once so strong  
Our love is like a song  
You can't forget it_

_Somewhere we went wrong  
We were once so strong  
Our love is like a song  
You can't forget it  
At all_

_And at last  
All the pictures have been burned  
And all the past  
Is just a lesson that we've learned  
I won't forget  
I won't forget us_

_But somewhere we went wrong  
Our love is like a song  
But you won't sing along  
You've forgotten  
About us_

"And that was Sonny Munroe's first single, "Don't Forget", which just reached the #2 spot on the Billboard Top 200 after just one week! That may have been a few weeks ago, but it's still holding strong..." the radio DJ said.

Chad was thankful for a long red light as he sat there in shock. That song was by Sonny? It was so deep, so meaningful, so thoughful... of course, so good, but... So many thoughts were running through his mind about the song. Even though he was pretty sure it was about his and Sonny's relationship, but what did each of those words really mean?

"Tune in tonight at 7PM to hear Sonny's new song, entitled "Life"," the radio DJ continued. "It will be her next single, which will be released in a few weeks. Make sure to buy it once it's available! If it's anything like "Don't Forget", then you'll be bound to love it!"

Chad looked at his clock, and it was a little after 3PM. He had to wait a few more hours before her new song came on.

---

He was thankful that his parents decided to go out on a little date that night.

The hours between hearing "Don't Forget" and then were long and almost unbearable. He downloaded "Dont Forget" on iTunes and listened to it a few times. Each time, it broke his heart more and more, and he knew it was about their relationship. Watching the video was hard, too, but he knew it had to be done. That was heartbreaking to watch. He knew those emotions were real, just as real as those lyrics. He was so caught up in the video, he got a little overwhelmed; it was like he was there, and she was screaming all of this at him. This wasn't a very good feeling.

"As promised, we are premiering Sonny Munroe's new song, "Life", right now!" the radio DJ announced. "I heard it a little while ago, and it really is amazing!" Suddenly, the song started playing:

_Because it was too sudden,  
I couldn't accept it.  
I wished someone would say, "It's a lie",  
And laugh with a mischievous look._

_What should I think of?  
Whatever can I do?_

_I had surely thought  
That we would continue to walk, laugh, breathe, and even have an idle talk,  
Just as usual._

_The city is active again today,  
As if nothing had happened._

_What are you thinking of?  
How do I look in your eyes?_

_You have surely become so strong and tender.  
Yes, much more than what you were,  
After knowing the meaning of pain and love._

_I remember again,  
What I think always exists.  
Just as usual,  
It's not a matter of course at all._

_You taught it to me.  
Yeah.  
Let's make a miracle, yeah._

"And make sure to catch the premiere of the video next Friday night at 8:55PM..."

Chad sat there, stunned. The song was extremely beautiful, and, yet again, she sounded wonderful. The song was almost happy sounding, and it was very calm. The lyrics went from almost sad at the beginning to hopeful at the end. He knew the first verse had to do with their breakup, he was sure of that. The end of the song was definitely a bit confusing to him. Did she really think he was stronger and tender? Did she really think he became that way because of their relationship and all the hardships he went through?

He wanted to call Sonny. He still had her number; he never deleted her phone number out of his phone. But, would she pick up? Did she even have his number anymore? He then decided he wasn't going to call her, but instead, he was going to drive to her apartment.

He wrote a quick note to his parents before grabbing his wallet and keys and ran out of the apartment. He sped off towards Sonny apartment, but, as usual in LA, he ran into traffic. It wasn't too bad, so he wasn't stuck on the highway for too long. He saw her car as he pulled into the apartment parking lot. He quickly got out and ran up to her apartment. As he got closer to her apartment, he could hear loud music blaring... it was definitely coming from her room, he noticed as he stood in front of it. He hesitated before loudly knocking on the door.

At least, he thought the music was coming from her room.

Almost immediately, the door flung open, and the first things he heard from here, "I told you this TEN MINUTES AGO, that music ISN'T-" That's when she stopped. She looked shocked as she stared at him. Her hands immediately flew to her mouth, her eyes wide. "Ch-Chad?" she whispered.

"Hey," he said, smiling nervously.

She frowned, her eyebrows furrowing together. "What are you doing here?"

"I, uhh..." He stammered. "I... I came to visit a friend..."

Unfortunately, that last part almost came out like a question. Sonny rolled her eyes and began to shut the door when Chad quickly grabbed on to it. "Sorry, I, uhh... I'm a bit nervous and, well... I... I came to see you, Sonny..."

"Why?" she asked, opening the door a bit wider. "Why are you really here, Chad?"

"Can I come in?" he asked. "I'd rather not talk like this in the hallway..."

"Whatever," she said, walking inside her apartment and over to her couch.

He shut the door behind him as he walked inside and sat down on the other side of the couch. He sat there for a few moments before saying, "I heard your songs on the radio today."

She sat there in silence for a good minute. He arms were crossed and her head was resting against the couch. She sighed and shut her eyes. "You came over to talk about my songs?"

"Are they about us?"

"What do you think?" she crossly muttered.

"I think they are," he honestly said.

"I think you're right," she continued to mutter.

"I... I never intended to hurt you that much..." he softly said, looking at her.

She sighed once more and looked at him. "I... I think I know that. I wrote "Don't Forget" right after our breakup, and, well... the record company sure did love that, so they wanted me to record and release it..."

"How long have you had this record deal?"

"For a couple of months now. And before you say anything about me not telling you, nothing was official and signed until... well, about a week before our breakup."

He couldn't be mad at her. He wouldn't have been mad at her, anyway. He was avoiding the world at that point, and a few days later, he had landed in the hospital. He smiled softly at her and said, "I'm really happy for you."

She shrugged, the tiniest of smiles on her face. "Can't say I've seen you around much lately."

He let out a soft chuckle. "I'm an outpatient at a facility close to my parents house. I'm living with my parents. I... I'm focusing my time and energy and actually getting better this time."

"Have you told your NA group members about everything?" she asked him.

He slightly nodded. "I never talked about us dating, so I never told them we broke up, but... yeah. I told them about the guys, and the way I reacted after the party and the even bigger part of the relapse..." He looked down, a look of shame on his face. "I still feel bad about what happened," he quietly said, his words coming out in an almost-whisper.

She also looked down. "I know," she murmured. He looked up, almost surprised. "You... I can tell you're being honest. I see it on your face, in your eyes, the way you're saying these words... I can tell you mean it much more than last time..." She looked up at him and saw a confused look on his face. She smiled softly and said, "When we enter rehab, or become an outpatient, for the first time, we always leave saying, 'I want to get better, and I'm going to stay clean'. The truth is, though, that most of us will relapse, and it isn't until we relapse that we fully realize how much we want to get better."

He nodded. She left him speechless, and he wasn't sure how to respond to something like that. It was true; he was trying his hardest to stay clean this time around, and she was right that most people with some sort of addiction relapse. He chuckled lightly when she started to yawn. He stood up and stretched. "You're tired; I'll just go now..."

Sonny looked up at him, a bit of a perplexed look on her face. "Chad..." she started. He looked down at her before sitting back down. She looked at her lap, her fingers twiddling with each other. "I... I don't know how to say this..." she sighed. "I... I don't know if we'll ever go out again..." Hearing that broke his heart as she continued, "...but... I would like to be friends again." She giggled and looked up at him. "Goodness knows I need a little CDC in my life."

He laughed, shaking his head. She continued to giggle. This was one of the things he missed: they would always tease and play with each other. He knew she wasn't being completely serious. He leaned forward and gave her a hug. He smiled even wider when she returned the hug. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before saying, "I really am happy for you, Sonny. I'll be first in line to buy your concert tickets."

She let out a giggle, shaking her head. "Oh, Chad."

He laughed and let go of her. They smiled at each other for a few moments before he stood up. She stood up, and together, they walked over to her door. She opened it and he walked out. "Thanks for coming over," she said to him.

He shrugged. "Thanks for letting me in."

She laughed. "We should hang again sometime."

He nodded, a tiny smile laying on his lips. "I would like that. I'll call you sometime."

She nodded. "Fine."

He smirked. "Fine."

She grinned. "Good."

He pursed his lips, a mishivieous look on his face. "Good."

She giggled. "Bye, Chad."

He chuckled. "Bye, Sonny."

He stared at her door for a few moments after she shut it. He walked off, a small smile on his face. He knew one thing for sure: Despite her words, he was falling for her all over again, and unlike when he was younger, he was embracing this feelings with open arms.

Little did he know, she was feeling the exact same way.

**A/N: Guh, I know, this should've been up sooner... school started this week, and so I haven't had quite as much time to work on this. That, and I had a LOT of writers block white writing this chapter. And, unfortunately, I'm not sure quite where to go with the next chapter. Yikes!!! So... you all should help me out. I know quite a few people read this, and as well as reviewing, you should help me with ideas for the next chapter. Please? I will give total credit to those who help me out. Thanks!!! Also, the songs: Obviously, the first is "Don't Forget" by Demi Lovato, and the second is actually a translation of the song "Life" by the Japanese artist, Ayumi Hamasaki. **


	17. Unexpected

_Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

A couple of weeks after their talk, Chad wasn't too surprised that Sonny hadn't texted him for a couple of days. Well, one of those days, he had his phone off, for he was in Northern California with his Mom, visiting her parents. The second day, he still wasn't surprised; he knew how hard she worked, and figured she was just really busy. The next day, he started to wonder what she was doing. Her blog, Twitter, even her Myspace hadn't been updated in those few days. He wasn't too concerned, but wasn't surprised she hadn't updated anything.

A few days later, about three weeks since that talk and one week after she last talked to him, he started to grow really worried. No texts, no calls, no updates via the internet... He knew she wasn't dead; if she were dead, the media would have known about it. He figured she hadn't gotten into any horrible accident, either, because the media would have known about that, too. Maybe she was sick...?

He figured that was the case as he laid on his bed. He held his phone in his hand, in case he were to receive any kind of notification from her.

But, a few weeks later, he thought to himself, How long can a person stay sick? She still hadn't talked to him, and he knew she was at work. She finally began updating the sites she frequented, but she didn't say much, and some of her messages weren't so "sunny", either. There were no indications that she was sick. One Twitter update left him confused:

_Life brings unexpected events._

What was so unexpected in her life? Was it good or bad? He talked to his counselor about this, but his counselor wasn't much of help. "Some people prefer isolation with sudden events," his counselor explained. "Even though it's best to get help, maybe she wants to be alone for a while, and try to get past this on her own."

Reports started appearing in tabloids and other celebrity publications. Apparently, they were noticing her slight absense in the world, and also noticed some physical changes in her; neither of these pleased Chad as he would read the articles. Most were noticing a weight change in her, and some even talked about her past anorexia struggle. Even though these articles weren't quite lengthy and didn't seem to be quite as prominent as other articles, Chad figured word would get around about this. A few celebrity shows picked up on it, but didn't discuss it too much. They assumed she would come out and talk about these rumors.

Very few celebrities do that; their personal lives are, obviously, personal. He hid his problems for so long, and if Sonny was going through any problems, he figured she would try to hide them for as long as she could.

He tried communicating with her. He wouldn't Twitter her; that would cause too much of a scene. He tried texting her, calling her, e-mailing her... nothing seemed to work. She wouldn't respond back, and it seemed like her phone was off half the time. He planned on visiting her one day, but was called down to the MacKenzie Falls set to talk about the rest of the season; he figured he would return towards the end of the season. He left after the meeting, which didn't last too long, and the producers agreed with Chad's idea. It was March, and he didn't have to return until early April, which meant he had about a month left until he had to return.

As he left the set, he took a bit of a long way out, hoping to catch Sonny around somewhere. He suddenly felt a vibration in his pocket, and got out his phone. Unfortunately, he wasn't watching where he was going and bumped into someone.

"Sorry!" they both blurted out before looking up, gasping. Sonny and Chad had ran into each other.

"Sonny?" Chad asked. Right as he asked that, she squeaked out, "Chad?!"

They stared at each other for a few moments before Chad asked, "What's going on, Sonny?"

She stared at him, her eyes wide and almost scared. She seemingly got paler as she continued to stand there. "W-what do you mean?"

"I haven't heard from you in over a month!" he blurted out. He regretted shouting out his feelings like that as she flinched at his voice. "I'm sorry," he softly said. "I... I was just worried about you, that's all."

She let out a small chuckle, obviously still nervous. "I, uh... just been working hard..."

"Doing what kind of things?"

"Uhh... you know, writing new sketches, practicing, filming... rehearsing..."

"Rehearsals and practicing are pretty much the same thing," he murmured, frowning slightly. "Is everything okay?"

She bit her bottom lip, staring down. She quickly shook her head. "N-no, I... uhh..."

"Sonny!" They both turned and saw Tawni walking over towards them. "Oh, Sonny, there you are! We're about to start rehearsal."

Sonny nodded as Tawni walked off. She looked at Chad and said, "I gotta go."

He suddenly grabbed her wrist, and loosened his grip when he realized how tight his grip was. "Sonny," he said. She turned towards him, almost wearily. "Will you tell me what's wrong?"

He could see the tears brimming her eyes, the raw emotion that was displayed in her bright, yet dark, brown eyes. She took a deep breath, a shaky breath, and let a few tears fall down her face before quietly telling him, "I had a miscarriage."

As she continued to look away, tears rolling down her sad face, he stared at her in shock. Miscarriage? She was pregnant? Now that he thought about it, they only used protection a couple of times, and as far as he knew, she wasn't on any kind of birth control... "When did this happen? How... how far along were you?" he quietly asked.

"A month ago," she muttered. "I... I was seven weeks along..." She looked up at him, a pleading look on her face and in her eyes. "P-please, d-don't tell anyone."

"Who all have you told?" he quietly asked.

"Just... just you and Tawni..."

"You haven't told your Mom?" he asked, genuinely surprised.

She quickly shook her head. "She... she's having such a go- a good time up in Wisoncsin... I... I can't tell her..."

He frowned. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her, tightly hugging her. "Sonny..." he murmured. "I'm so sorry..."

He could feel her body start to shake, and he could hear a few gasps, a few sobs, escaping her. He started rubbing her back, resting his head on top of hers. He could feel her clinging to his shirt as she continued to cry. He shut his eyes, holding her closer to him. He wasn't going to tell her it was alright, he wasn't going to tell her to stop crying. He had no idea what she had gone through the past four weeks, the extreme loss she experienced... this was so new to him, and he was stunned. "Sonny?" he softly asked.

"Hmm?" she sadly muttered into his chest.

"Did... did you know?"

She shook her head, which was still buried in his chest. "No," she squeaked out, her voice still filled with sadness. She pulled away slightly and looked up at him. Her face was tear-stained, her eyes and cheeks red, her make-up smeared slightly around her eyes. "Ch-Chad..." she started, but took a deep breath before saying, "I... I would have told you, but... I di- I didn't know how, and... I... I'm so sorry..."

"Shh," he quietly comforted, rubbing her back. He wasn't going to tell her he was glad she was okay, nor was he going to tell her again he was worried about her. Obviously, she wasn't okay. She hadn't told anyone, and only a few people knew about this, so all this extra stress caused this current emotional state that she was in.

"Sonny Munroe, please report to the So Random! set immediately." Marshall's voice was suddenly heard over the loudspeakers.

Sonny sighed and looked down. Chad reached over and tilted her head up, and wiped away her tears. "There," he softly murmured. "You look sort of better." She let out an airy laugh. She gave his hands a tight squeeze before walking off, not saying a word to him. He watched her walk off before slowly returning to his car. He shakily opened his car before plopping into it. He sat there for a good ten minutes, processing everything that had just happened.

Pregnant... Miscarriage...

Those two words kept popping into his head. He couldn't call Alex, for he was at work. He would be getting off soon, and they were supposed to have dinner that night, anyway. His next appointment with his counselor was in a few days, so he would wait to tell him then, and his parents... he didn't know how he was going to tell them. He had to, he knew it. He figured he would tell them either that night or the next day.

He sighed as he started his car and drove off. Life really did bring unexpected events.

**A/N: Such a filler chapter, I know. But, this idea randomly popped into my head, and I figured there needed to a bit more drama in this story, anyway ;) Well, at least enough to make up for the last chapter, heh. Thank you all so much for the reviews! They really do mean a lot to me :) And we're so close to 100! We can do it! Since I'm still on a bit of a block, let's try to reach for 105, okay? **


	18. Finale

_Disclaimer: I don't own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted._

**A/N: I know, it's weird to see a note at the beginning... and sorry about this chapter not showing up. I don't know why that happened. But, after thinking about it and reading a couple of reviews, I will admit, this chapter is the final one in this story. Don't worry, there will be a sequel, but I feel like I've done all that I can for this story... Chad dealt with drugs, and well, he's on his path to sobriety. I meant for this story to be seriously focused on Chad, definitely with Channy in it, but then I ended up having more Sonny side-stories... don't get me wrong, I loved writing them, and I'm glad you all liked those, too. I think the reason for my block on these past few chapters is, like I said, I've done all I can for this story. The sequel (currently untitled) will focus on both Chad and Sonny, with both of their current, past, and even future problems. The first chapter in that story will take place directly after this chapter. I want to thank all of you who had my story on alert, put me as a favorite author, put this story as a favorite story, and I want to especially thank those who reviewed this story. Your reviews made me want to write more, as quickly as possible, and your suggestions helped me write the story as well. I hope you all really enjoyed this story, and I hope you will continue to read into the next one!**

"Man, that's... that's... wow," Alex said, sitting back in his chair and staring at his friend.

Chad nodded, also sitting back in his chair. "Yeah." He had just told Alex of the events that took place earlier with Sonny. He was grateful that they were sitting towards the back of a restaurant, so he could talk freely with his best friend, and didn't have to leave out any details.

"So... she didn't know she was pregnant?" Alex asked.

Chad shook his head. "Not at all."

"Well, don't women, like..." Alex paused for a moment, thinking. "Don't they have that intuition? Y'know, motherly instincts or whatever?"

Chad shrugged. "She could've been busy and didn't notice."

Alex nodded. "True."

"Do you think she would've told me?" Chad quietly asked.

Alex's face became thoughtful as he stared off slightly. "Based off what I've heard of her... I only met her once, talked to her one other time... if she were to somewhat easily tell you today what had happened, if she knew... and everything was okay... I don't think she would tell you immediately, maybe... but, eventually, yes, I think she would."

Chad nodded. "I think so, too."

"Have you told your parents?" Alex asked.

Chad shook his head. "No. I'll tell them tonight or tomorrow."

"How do you think they'll react?"

Chad shrugged. "I'm not sure. They certainly won't be happy, but..." Once again, he shrugged. "They'll be sympathetic."

Alex nodded and checked the time. He sighed. "Sorry to cut this short, man. My brother and sister are in town, and my parents want to have this little 'family gathering' thing tonight."

Chad laughed. "Tell Jay and Izzy I said hello."

Alex laughed as they stood up and started walking out of the restaurant. "Oh, I haven't told them about us. I won't get into gritty details, don't worry. They're going to leave hearing that message from you, though."

Chad chuckled as they stepped outside. "Tell your parents I said hello, too."

"Same to yours," Alex said. He gave Chad a small wave and said, "Talk to you later, man."

"See ya," Chad said, returning the small wave and walking over to his car. He got in and checked the time. It was a little after 4:30, and Chad didn't have any plans. His parents were currently out of town, and wouldn't be returning until either that night or the next day. He decided to take a nice walk on the beach. He used to do that a lot early in the career, even when he was little; those walks helped him think and relaxed him tremendously. He knew a smaller beach that would be perfect to walk on, without the distraction of the papparazzi and fans and other things. It took him about twenty minutes to get there, and when he was arrived, he was grateful to see that there weren't many people there. He got out of the car and took off his shoes, tossing them into the passenger seat; he didn't like wearing shoes on the beach. He rolled up his jeans to his knees and headed towards the beach. He was glad to feel the sand wasn't too hot as he walked towards the water. He stepped his feet into the water and sighed.

He stood in the water for at least five minutes. He walked around in it a little bit as he got lost in his thoughts. He was so happy to be friends with Alex again, and was grateful everyday that Alex wasn't the type to blow up in somebody's face. When they were little, their parents would comment on, even though they looked so much alike, and even acted slightly alike, their main difference was that Chad had a temper, and that Alex was more calmer. He was glad he had Alex to confide in, and he knew Alex felt the same way about him. He could talk to his parents, and he used to be able to talk to Sonny, but he knew Alex understood him the most, even though they didn't talk for a couple of years.

He was also grateful that his parents were so supportive of him. He knew he wasn't the best child, especially in these past few years, but they didn't love him any less. This whole ordeal brought them together again, and Chad didn't even notice any shift in them until five, six months ago. He and his Dad had discussions about drug using, relapsing, stuff like that. His Mom didn't like talking about stuff, and preferred staying away from drama and such, so any time he and his Mom spent together was fun and joyous, something people wouldn't normally expect from Chad.

But, there was a difference between Chad, and Chad Dylan Cooper, CDC, The Chadster, the version of Chad people "knew". Chad wasn't sure of himself a few years ago, even just six, seven months ago, so he just became Chad Dylan Cooper, the egotistical jerk who shoved puppies, had a million girlfriends, and was teen Hollywood's bad boy. As he experienced rehab, counseling, and relapsing, he was able to find Chad, and see who Chad really was. Chad is just a laid back person, who honestly enjoys spending time with family and friends. He has eyes and a heart for one girl, and if they'll ever be together again, who knows.

He decided to plop down onto the sand and stare off into the horizon. The sun was slowly setting. He brought his knees to his chest and restd his head on his knees. Sonny continuously popped into his head. Seeing her cry the way she did earlier broke his heart, and even thinking about it continued to break his heart even more. She sounded so devastated, so confused, so upset... he hated that. He knew he couldn't make her feel better with a bit of backrubbing and encouraging words. The thought of her keeping all that information to herself and a few select people upset him; he understood her not telling the whole world, but not telling her Mom? He knew her Mom had moved to Wisconsin a couple of months ago, but he thought they were closer than that.

He sighed and shook his head. He could think about it all he wanted to, but he couldn't go back in time and fix anything. He knew things were slowly getting better, though. He felt better than he ever had before, and he truly never wanted to return back to his old ways. He was lucky he hadn't seen any of his old "friends"; he didn't want to be influenced by them again. His counselor said a second relapse isn't quite as common as relapsing the first time, but wouldn't rule it out, especially if those guys were to somehow walk back into Chad's life.

He stretched his upper body, mostly his arms, before laying back in the sand. He shut his eyes and laid there for a few moments, enjoying the peace that the beach brought. Suddenly, a voice could be heard behind him:

"Chad?"


End file.
